Darkness Within
by goofnutgav
Summary: They say war is hell, and they're right. After escaping that hellhole of a city, I came home damaged beyond repair and continued hustling other animals with my brother, Nick Wilde for years until the ZPD's newest rabbit officer got us involved in a case that changed my life.
1. Chapter 1

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, July 3, 2012.

I was sitting on the front steps of the tallest building in the ruined city of Dubai, looking at the ground blankly and holding an AA-12 automatic shotgun.

For those of you who are wondering who I am, my name is Martin Walker, Captain of the United States Army's 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, or more commonly known as Delta Force.

Speaking of Dubai, you probably saw in the news about the unexplainable sandstorm that has engulfed the entire city and cut off communications to the outside world. In the F.O.B. where I was stationed, some of my fellow brothers and sisters in arms actually believed that the sandstorm was an act of God meant to punish all of animal kind for our arrogance, but I didn't give a shit at the time. When the storm first began, the 33rd Infantry Battalion was sent in to help with evacuations, limited communications from the 33rd through the first week reported bizarre conditions including large amounts of electromagnetic interference within the storm, and it appeared the storm was at least two miles thick before communications were lost entirely. Colonel John Konrad, leader of the 33rd had recommended that no other units be sent until they could get through to the city itself and determine conditions within. For the next several weeks, specialists in many fields monitored and tested the conditions they could see, trying to determine the source of the phenomena and document anything that could give them more information about what was happening, while they waited for more information from within.

After several weeks of this scientific exploration, a radio technician stumbled across a very faint message from Colonel Konrad that had somehow managed to get through the interference from the storm, stating that they were attempting to leave the city with some survivors. Nothing else was heard for months until another faint message from Konrad was detected that gave little information besides the complete failure of any evacuation. All we knew was that the 33rd Infantry had dissolved and whatever terrible conditions existed within the sandstorm, Konrad blamed himself and held his men blameless of whatever had happened.

The reason I'm here in this hell on earth, is that Delta Force had been activated shortly after the final distress call had been received. After establishing our FOB, and waiting for almost two weeks, we finally received orders. First Lieutenant Alphonso Adams, Staff Sergent John Lugo and I were ordered to simply recon the inside area and report back, nothing else. Personally, I wanted to rescue any survivors we could find along the way. After nearly two days of struggling through the still raging sandstorm, we finally broke through to the inside. When we entered the ruined city, we encountered hostile refugees and things went tits up from there. The things I have seen and done, the horrors I have experienced, words cannot describe. I have committed many horrific atrocities that would get me sent to prison for war crimes. But one of the worst things I have done was to launch White Phosphorus on the remains of the camp of the Damned 33rd, only to find out too late that there had been many innocent refugees in the now destroyed camp.

* * *

 _I was trying hard not to gag at the awful stench of cooked flesh and burnt fur while Lugo, Adams, and I were walking through the camp. Rogue soldiers of the 33rd were screaming and howling in agony while the Willie Petes burned them from inside out. Humans, jackals, lions, foxes, and wolves reached out to us and begged for us to kill them._

 _"This...this is too much..." Lugo stated as he looked around in horror._

 _"Stop talking," I warned._

 _"What did you just say?" Lugo inquired._

 _"He means the smoke is toxic, so keep your mouth shut," Adams notified him as we kept walking through the once beautiful plaza._

 _"Yeah, right...Jesus," Lugo mumbled bitterly._

 _"Let's just keep moving," I said, wanting to get away from all this carnage._

 _"Walker...come on, man" Adams protested as we kept walking past people who were suffering in an agonizing way._

 _"There's nothing we can do. Come on, he's already dead," I snapped in irritation as we passed a jackal that was crawling and reaching out to us until he slumped onto the cracked pavement._

 _The three of us jumped down into a depression where the street had torn apart from an explosion and walked over to a charred and dying soldier that was wheezing out his last breaths.  
_

 _"Why?" the fox gasped out._

 _"You brought this on yourself," I stated coldly._

 _"We were helping..." the fox trailed off as he pointed to our right and died._

 _"What?" I questioned in confusion._

 _When I looked to our right, my eyes widened in horror and I said, "Oh no..."_

 _What I saw when I walked over was piles of dead refugees that were in poses of agony. I just stared as Adams and Lugo followed, but what truly broke me was seeing the bodies of a woman and her child sitting and holding each other close in death.  
_

 _"Are those...civilians?" Lugo was barely able to say, sounding like he was unable to process what he is seeing as we slowly walked into the horror._

 _"Where'd they come from? There's no camp here!" Adams questioned in shock._

 _"They took 'em from the nest..." I trailed off as I stopped walking and my mental state started unraveling._

 _"That hotel back at the storm wall?! No, no, no. No, those can't be the civvies that got kidnapped. It's not possible!" Adams exclaimed in denial._

 _"Yeah, it is. It's why Gould stormed this place. He didn't want The Gate, he was tryin' to rescue his people...this is your fault, Goddammit!" Lugo yelled at me in rage, but it sounded muffled to me._

 _"Stop right there, Lugo," Adams warned._

 _"But it is! He wouldn't listen!" Lugo protested._

 _"We didn't have a choice!" Adams argued loudly._

 _"He turned us into fucking killers!" Lugo roared out in despair._

 _"That's enough, Sergeant!" Adams shouted._

 _"No! No!" Lugo screamed uncontrollably and hysterically._

 _"Control yourself, now!" Adams yelled as I snapped out it and turned around._

 _"We need to keep moving," I said blankly._

 _"What?!" Lugo inquired._

 _"Reinforcement will be here any second- we need to keep moving," I stated._

 _"But, Walker...you're not...you're not even-" Adams tried to protest, but I cut him off._

 _"I'm gonna make these bastards pay for what they've done. Now, are you with me, or not?" I asked darkly._

 _Adams and Lugo moved ahead and I followed them away from the horrific sight until we were spotted by survivors._

 _"There they are! Murderers!" a human roared out in rage and started shooting at us._

* * *

After that incident, I eventually found a radio and made contact with Konrad as we moved on. We fought through pure hell along the way and I lost Adams and Lugo in the process. Lugo was captured by enraged refugees who hanged him from a streetlight and hurled insults while he kicked and gasped for breath. When Adams and I came upon the scene, I shot through the rope and in my grief, frantically began CPR while Adams held off the crowd. When I was unable to revive him, I just snapped and opened fire on the refugees. Adams and I slaughtered everyone in our line of sight until no one was left alive. Adams died as we were attacked while trying to gain entrance to the building where Konrad had been hiding. I wanted to make that monster pay for everything he had done, but when I entered the building and found Konrad, I discovered the horrifying truth. The Konrad I had been talking to was nothing more than a hallucination brought on by my shattered mind because I was unable to cope with what I had done and I needed someone to blame. After that shattering realization, I managed to find a working radio and sent out a distress call to command. I had been waiting for days for the rescue team, when the raging sandstorm suddenly stopped. Tons of sand fell to the ground and it began to rain. I assumed that if the storm had stopped, a rescue unit would now be able to get in and find me, so I continued to wait.

I looked up when I finally heard the sounds of vehicles approaching. I saw two U.S. Military Humvees pulling up and eight Marines consisting of two foxes, three dogs, and three jackals got out and took up positions around me. I slowly stood up and started walking to the Marines lifelessly as one human soldier got out of one of the humvees and began speaking into his radio.

"Commander, this is Falcon-1. I think we found him. Captain Walker?" the soldier inquired to me.

"He's armed!" one soldier notified in alarm.

"It's okay, hold your fire!" the lead soldier, who was a Sergeant, reassured.

"I don't understand...what's he doing?" a soldier asked in confusion when he saw me stop and stare at them unnervingly.

"Look at his eyes, something's not right," a soldier stated uneasily, and I knew he could see that I looked disheveled and unshaven, my uniform and Konrad's uniform jacket were in tatters, and I had a dead look in my eyes. I also had many scars all over me, the most prominent one being a large, horrifying burn scar that was on the right side of my head and face.

"Captain Walker, we are here to help. But first, I need you to lay down your weapon," the Sergent said carefully as he approached slowly and cautiously.

"He's not complying," a soldier informed his Sergent.

"He's shell-shocked, give him a second! Just hand me your weapon, Captain. We're here to take you home," the Sergent reassured.

"Can he even hear you?" a soldier commented, making the Sergent shoot a look at him before he looked back at me.

"Captain?" the Sergent asked me hesitantly.

I hesitated because I truly didn't know what to do. I wanted to shoot myself because I wanted to die for what I had done in this hellhole, but I thought about my brother Nick, my wife/mate Katherine, a timber wolf, and my kids. I knew that they were waiting for me to come home, and killing myself would be selfish. I lowered the shotgun and the Sergeant gently took it out of my hands.

 _"It's over. Time to go home,"_ I thought as the Sergeant led me to one of the humvees and we all drove through the destroyed city.

"You know, Captain...we drove through this whole city to find you. We...saw things. If you don't mind me asking, what was it like? How did you survive all of this?" the Sergeant questioned in slight astonishment.

"Who said I did..." I trailed off hauntingly while looking out the window.

* * *

After we arrived back to base, I was checked out by a doctor. When he okayed my physical condition, I was led to a psychologist. After a mostly one-sided conversation, the counselor informed my superiors that in his opinion, I was mentally unfit for duty. Within a few days, I was honorably discharged and sent home to Zootopia, which was my hometown in the United States.

After leaving the military base airport, I took a train to Zootopia. When I arrived at the station, I carefully avoided many animals, humans, and the much larger animals like polar bears or giraffes. Then I saw my brother, a red fox with an auburn tip on his tail who was wearing a tacky green Hawaiian shirt, a dark indigo necktie with red and blue stripes, sunglasses, and brown pants. I know you're wondering how a human could be related to a fox. When I was five years old, my biological parents died in a car accident and Nick's parents Johnathan and Francine Wilde, good friends of my parents, adopted me and raised me like I was one of their own. When Nick saw me, he let out his trademark sly smirk and walked over to me.

"Well, if it isn't my 'one day older than me' brother... How are you...doing..." Nick trailed off when he lowered his shades, and his eyes widened in horror when he saw my burn scar.

"Hello, little brother," I greeted blankly, staring at him with a dead expression that appeared to make Nick uneasy, but he managed to put up his sly front again.

"So, Finnick's waiting for us outside," Nick notified me and we started walking out of the train station and found ourselves at an alley until I saw Finn's van that had interesting artwork on both sides of it and I saw Finn himself, who was a fennec fox that was dragging on his smoke.

"Hey Finn, look who I found wondering inside the train station!" Nick announced as we were approaching him and Finn normal scowl changed to a grin when he saw me.

"Well Goddamn, if it isn't Martin fucking Walker himself. Welcome home Kid," Finn greeted as he threw down his cigarette butt. But when he lowered his shades to get a better look at me, his eyes widened when he saw my burn scar.

"Hello Finn," I responded blankly.

"Well, how about we get you home, okay?" Nick said as Finn got into the van and started it.

Suddenly, I heard a gunshot and the next thing I knew, I was back in Dubai with bullets flying around me. I immediately took cover at a burned out car and I noticed that I didn't have my M4A1 carbine rifle and M9 sidearm.

"Adams, Lugo, lay down suppressive fire! I need to find a weapon!" I ordered as I kept my head down, only I didn't see my men anywhere.

Suddenly, someone grabbed my arm and without thinking, I threw the person up against the car and started choking him.

"Kill is fucking confirmed!" I roared out in pure savagery until something cracked hard against my head, and everything went black.

* * *

Finnick held the baseball bat above his head again as Martin crashed to the ground unconscious while Nick was holding his throat, coughing and hacking harshly.

"You okay, Kid?" Finn asked while he still kept his eyes on Martin, wondering what the fuck just happened.

"Yeah...I'll be fine...It's not the first time this happened to me," Nick reassured.

"Good...now what the fuck just happened?! I heard Martin yelling, and I came out to see him trying to kill you!" Finn questioned in disbelief.

"I don't know...when your van backfired, he just completely lost it and acted like he was getting shot at by someone. When I grabbed him to try and calm him down, he threw me up against the van and started choking me. It was like he didn't even recognize me," Nick explained while he was rubbing his neck.

"Well...let's tie him up so that he doesn't hurt anyone or himself," Finn said as he was putting the away in his van and grabbing rope.

"Finn...are you sure? Because it didn't look like Martin knew what he was doing," Nick asked while Finn was tying up Martin.

"It's like you said Kid, he wasn't aware of what he was doing. This is for his safety as well as ours. Help me get him inside," Finn stated as he struggled to lift Martin. But due to his small stature as a fennic fox, he wasn't having much luck. Nick walked over and the two of them managed to get Martin into the van and they got in.

As Finnick was driving to a inconspicuous location, Nick looked at his brother in concern, recalling the insanity that was in Martin's eyes as he was trying to kill him, and he shivered as he remembered the dead expression in Martin's eyes when he got a good look at his brother and the large horrible burn scar that was on the side of his head. Nick recalled all the times he and his brother would successfully pull off cons and that they swore to each other when they were kits that it was them against the world, and they would always look out for each other, no matter what. At that point, Nick knew that the brother he knew since he was a kit, had died and a stranger had taken his place.

 _"What the hell did you see over there, Marty?"_ Nick thought with his ears lowered, unable to imagine what kind of horrors his brother had seen.

Suddenly, Martin started groaning, and Nick tensed while Martin started to regain consciousness.

* * *

I groaned as I was waking up, feeling like someone tapdanced my head with a baseball bat.

"Are you okay, Martin?" Nick's voice rang out in concern, and I noticed that my arms and legs were tied up.

"Fuck...Nick, why am I tied up? Who the hell hit me?" I questioned in pain.

"Yeah, sorry. That was Finn. He knocked you out because you just lost it and tried to kill me," Nick explained.

"Oh God...I tried to kill you?! I don't remember that! What the fuck did I do?! Please...I need help..." I trailed off while I was sobbing, letting out all of the trauma I've experienced.

"It's okay Marty...we'll get you help," Nick vowed as he untied me and held me in his arms while I was breaking down uncontrollably.

"I killed them...I killed them all...it's all my fault...it's all my fault! I have blood on my hands!" I babbled brokenly while Nick was looking at Finn, who was staring back in the review mirror in concern.

* * *

A/n I know what you are thinking, the human in Zootopia thing has been done before, but I'm doing things a little bit differently. See, this crossover takes place in a world where humans evolved along with animals, and the world history is the same as human history, with the exception of the destruction of Dubai. I just wanted to warn you that there are concepts of a combat veteran struggling with a bad case of post traumatic stress disorder and having a rough period of adjusting to civilian life. Well, if thats all, let me know what you think about this story by reviewing.


	2. Chapter 2

1955 Cypress Grove Lane, Zootopia, Illinois, United States of America, July 4, 2012.

 _"This is all your fault!"_

 _"You didn't give us a choice!"_

 _"Do you feel like a hero yet, Captain?"_

I screamed awake as I sat up quickly and I heard Nick yelling to me.

"Martin! It's okay, you're having a nightmare! It's over!" Nick exclaimed in alarm as he rushed over.

I stopped screaming and broke out into sobs as Nick held me close. I was bawling uncontrollably into Nick's shoulder and wetting his fur.

"You'll never fucking understand...It'll never be over!" I roared out in fury as I pried him off me and I stood up.

Ignoring Nick calling for me, I rushed into the bathroom and slammed the door shut. As I washed my face to wake myself up, I looked at my reflection in the mirror and saw the large burn scar. In a fit of self loathing, I punched the mirror and it shattered into large pieces.

"Martin?! What the hell was that?!" Nick yelled in worry as he pounded on the door but I ignored it.

I just looked at my hands and stared at them for a long time until Nick managed to bash the door open and he saw the broken mirror and me staring at my hands with a thousand yard stare.

"Oh fuck Marty..." Nick muttered in horror and I looked at him hauntingly.

"Where's Kathy and the kids?" I asked Nick blankly.

"I called them and they are waiting for you. They are going to be happy to see you," Nick explained and I nodded slightly.

"Good...I can't wait to see them again after so long," I stated quietly as I left the bathroom, put on my Army cammies and headed to the front door of Nick's apartment.

"By the way Martin, I have a surprise for you," Nick said with his trademark sly grin as we left the apartment.

"What kind of surprise?" I asked as he led me to the parking lot.

"It's over there," Nick replied as he pointed to one of the spaces and my eyes widened in surprise when I saw a familiar pick-up truck.

The vehicle I was looking at was a blue 1977 Ford F150 that had roof fog lights and 4x4 lights covering the grill of the truck.

"Holy shit...you still kept her while I was gone," I mumbled softly.

"Yeah, I figured you would be happy that I still kept your dad's old truck," Nick remarked with a grin.

I didn't say anything and walked over to the driver side door, opening it and slowly getting in. Nick got into the passenger side as I shut the door and rubbed my palms on the steering wheel, smelling the old faded scents that were still in the cab of the truck.

"So? What do you think?" Nick asked me in anticipation.

"Thanks...for the welcome home present. It means a lot to me," I responded just as Nick took out a pair of car keys and showed them to me smugly.

"Here, I think you'll be needing these," Nick offered and I took the keys from his paw.

I put the key into the ignition and started the engine. Hearing it roar to life, I let out a nostalgic smile at hearing the familiar sound. I looked on the dash and saw a small box full of cassette tapes.

"Is that a box full of my favorite music?" I asked eagerly.

"Sure as hell is. Go on, put one in," Nick encouraged while his tail was twitching in excitement.

I took the box off the dash and took out one of the cassette tapes, putting one into the radio and pushing play.

(Play Keep Me by The Black Keys)

I bobbed my head a little at the electric guitar that started playing as I reversed us out of the parking lot and started driving home. As I was driving, I saw Bug-Burga joints and Snarlbucks coffee shops as I drove us to Savanna Central and I let out a smile when I saw the large building of Precinct 1 of the Zootopia Police Department, knowing that my Brother In-law Mike Wolford is a cop in that precinct. _"I wonder how Mike is doing?"_ I thought as I took a left and drove through a familiar neighborhood.

I pulled up to the building I was looking for, stopped the truck, turned off the engine and Nick and I got out. We walked up to the front door and went inside, going up the stairs to the second floor and approaching room 213. Nick and I stopped in front of the door but I hesitated before knocking. Nick saw that I was hesitating and he encouraged me with a nod.

I took a deep breath and knocked on the door, then heard the familiar voice of Kathy telling me to come in. I looked at Nick in confusion, but he just grinned at me. I opened the door, saw a party set up with balloons, food, drinks, decorations, a large banner that said 'Welcome Home Martin'. Kathy and my kids were there, along with many other animals and humans. I saw Hedy, one of Nick's and my childhood friends who was a female hedgehog wearing a black long sleeved shirt, and brown khakis. I also saw my brother in-law Mike, who was a gray timber wolf wearing a blue t-shirt that had the ZPD's logo on it, and black cargo pants.

"Hey everyone! Look who I found wandering in the train station!" Nick announced. Everyone approached me smilng.

"Well, looks like the man of the hour is here. Welcome home Martin," Mike greeted as he walked over and shook my hand with his paw.

"Good to see you too, Mike," I stated as we gave each other a manly hug, then I walked around to greet my childhood friends and neighbors.

After much hand shaking and hugging, I finally approached my wife and kids. Katherine Wolford Walker was a beautiful black timber wolf with green eyes, who was wearing a gray t-shirt and blue jeans. As for my kids Trevor and Luke, Trevor was a nine year old gray timber wolf with blue eyes who was wearing a jeans jacket that was covering a white long sleeved shirt and green cargo pants. Luke was a male eight year old human wolf hybrid with short brown hair, green eyes, slight deformities of paw pads on his hands and feet, a tail with black fur, and he was wearing a red t-shirt and black jeans.

I approached Kathy, who smiled at me and we hugged each other.

"I missed you..." I mumbled, feeling my eyes welling up at this moment.

"I missed you too," Kathy agreed as we let go and went to see our kids.

"Hey kids, you want to come say hello to your daddy?" Kathy offered gently to our kids, who walked over cautiously and stared up at me shyly.

"Hey kids, we finally get to see each other in person," I greeted with a playful grin as I knelt down and opened my arms in a gesture for them to hug me.

Trevor and Luke looked at each other and they slowly hugged me. I let the waterworks go and started crying quietly as we held each other, and I felt glad to have made the choice not to kill myself back in that hell so I could reunite with my family.

"Daddy? Why are you crying?" Luke asked me as he looked up at me.

"It's nothing son...daddy's just glad to see you and your brother in person," I said as we let go and I stood up.

I was looking around at everyone in the room when eryone and I heard a voice I thought I would never hear again.

"Martin?" the voice asked and I froze up.

I turned around and saw John and Francine Wilde looking at me in surprise and hope. John was a middle aged male red fox who was wearing a black business suit with a blue checkered shirt and violet tie, and Francine was a middle aged female red fox who was wearing a purple sweater and red skirt.

"Mom? Dad?" I questioned in shock as they trembled.

My adoptive parents didn't say anything, but just hugged me, the three of us reuniting after so many years.

* * *

A few hours later, everything was cleaned up and everyone had gone home. John and Frankie took the kids with them because Kathy and I needed time to catch up.

"I was worried. When I didn't hear anything from you for weeks and when they didn't tell me anything, I was terrified that something had happened to you. I'm just glad you're safe and home now," Kathy stated gratefully as she traced her paw across my large burn scar.

I nodded as we still sat on the couch and held each other close until we looked at each other and just crashed muzzle and lips together. We got up and still kept kissing as we navigated to the bedroom until I laid down onto the bed and my wife laid on top of me as we showed our passion for each other. I kept caressing Kathy's form as we started using tongue until we stopped and Kathy straddled me. Kathy gave me a wolfish grin as she slowly and sensuously took off her shirt and her bra, showing me her beautiful curves as we got off the bed so that we could undress all the way.

I took off my cammies as I witnessed Kathy turning around and slowly lowering her jeans, swaying her hips to tease me as she took off her jeans and underwear until she was fully naked. I couldn't help but admire my wife's slender form and sensuous curves as she slowly walked over with her tail swaying slowly until she pushed me onto the bed and climbed up atop me, slowly and carefully lowering herself until she straddled me and looked down at me with lust.

"I can see that you missed me," I remarked with a sly grin.

"What can I say Honey...you tend to bring out the savage in me," Kathy quipped as she lowered her muzzle and we passionately kissed again.

I brought my hands up and grasped my wife's curved sides, running them up and down her sleek form and I pushed back against her kissing. I started driving my tongue into Kathy's muzzle and what followed was a blur of passion, a sweet taste of desire. Kathy moaned softly into my mouth as she continued to press against me with various spots on her body connecting to mine, some more intimate than others. Eventually, Kathy started sliding her hips back and forth horizontally to my own; our nether regions lightly grazed with each pass and each touch igniting a pang of ecstasy in the both of us. It had been so long since we last mated like this and I wanted to enjoy it as much as possible and show how much I loved my mate.

Kathy bore down on me with increased pressure as time went on which only furthered our levels of pleasure. I placed my hands on her lovely hips and began massaging her plush rump and lower back with ease. Judging from the euphoric noises and whines she was stifling, it was clear to me that Kathy still enjoyed being handled in such a way after so many years of me being gone. I continued to gently rub my hands around Kathy's form but occasionally traced them up to the back of her neck and back down to her long fluffy tail, which I would grasp it and run my hands through her fur, causing her to ground her hips against mine, our nether regions sliding together pleasurably.

A cold chill of pleasure ran down my spine from each repetition as Kathy cupped my jaw with a paw and kissed me hard before lowering her muzzle to my scarred chest, and she kissed lovingly until heading to my neck and raking her teeth gently across my skin and nibbling between kisses.

"Oh God...keep going Honey, that feels so fucking good..." I claimed breathlessly at the electrical feelings of pleasure that ran through my body.

Kathy continued her indulgence until she lifted her her head and sealed our lips together in a drawn out kiss. This went on for some time as Kathy kept delicately rubbing her erogenous zone against mine and heat and pressure kept building as time went on, though we were still unconnected. I was starting to have trouble holding back, with my only solace being Kathy taking occasional breaks to rest herself until she raised her head and looked down at me with a loving smile.

I watched as she licked her chops once more before bringing them down upon mine, our mouths locking in a passionate and loving kiss as I brought my hands up to Kathy's waist and caressing her shapely curves. I delicately stroked her fur then glided my hands up and down her spine with a gentle touch. I then ran my hands down her back as slowly and sensually as possible until I held her hips. I caressed Kathy's thighs as I pressed my hips upwards and meshing our intimate areas together in a manner more advanced than before.

Kathy seemed to notice that I was ready and she looked at me.

"Are you ready?" Kathy asked breathlessly.

"I am...I love you so much," I declared softly as I gently rubbed my thumb on her furry cheek.

I took the lead by sitting up and crashing my lips against hers, enjoying the swirl of passion between us as I put my hands on her c-cup breasts and Kathy wrapped her arms around my neck. We massaged one another, kissed deeply, and called out each other's names in ecstasy until I laid back down and Kathy leaned forward slightly so that she could grab my cock and nestled it on her opening.

Kathy moved down and we both let out moans of pleasure as I entered her and we kissed as I fully went inside of her. We kept locking our lips while Kathy thrusted up and down, the two of us indulging in passionate lovemaking. I felt indescribable pleasure rippling through my body as our pace kept increasing toward the inevitable end that was approaching. Kathy lifted her head up and let out animalistic whines and growls at the incredible experience that was rushing through her body and she looked down at me with eyes glazed over from lust.

"It's coming...I'm coming!" Kathy exclaimed in ecstasy as she quickly pressed her lips against mine.

I didn't say anything as I occupied myself with kissing and nipping her neck until I felt my climax. My orgasm rushed though me and Kathy let out a howl as her pussy flexed and rippled around my cock. We finished with a drawn out kiss as Kathy slumped on top of me. We both panted heavily as we held each other close and kissed softly.

"My God...that was so incredible," Kathy gasped as she looked at me.

"It was...God, I missed this, just lying in bed with you," I stated as we snuggled up and started to drift off to sleep.

As I was closing my eyes, I felt safe and not as broken now that I was with my wife and wondered what would happen next.

 _"I'm never going to be the same again,"_ I thought as horrifying flashbacks ran through my mind.

All I could do was try to make up for my mistakes and see what else this fucked up world held for me.


	3. Chapter 3

Savanna Central, Zootopia, Illinois, 2016.

"So Martin, how have things been going lately?" My human therapist asked me while I sat in a chair across from him.

"Well...It's my wife," I replied hesitantly.

"Oh, is she okay?" he asked in concern.

"Kathy, um...well, she went missing a few weeks ago," I clarified while fiddling with my wedding ring anxiously.

"Oh God, I'm sorry to hear that," he replied sympathetically and asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Kathy went out to get groceries and she didn't come home. At first, I thought she was caught up with talking to an old friend, but I got worried when she didn't come home for a few hours. I called Mike, my brother Nick...hell, I called her folks, but no one had seen her. After that, I went to the police and they said that they would file a missing person's report...every day my sons and I are scared about what might have happened to her and whether or not she is coming home," I explained and looked down.

"Well, don't lose hope Martin, I am sure they are doing their best," he assured me and I nodded at him.

"Thank you, Louis," I said in appreciation and his watch started beeping.

"Well, looks like that's the end of this session. I hope the police find your wife soon," he said as we both stood up and shook hands.

"Only time will tell," I said as I turned around and left the office, heading into the men's restroom and looking at myself in the mirror.

I haven't changed much in the past 4 years. I was wearing a camouflage trucker cap that had the American flag on the front, aviator shades, my military ID tags, brown jacket, gray t-shirt, a black belt on dark blue jeans that were tucked into my brown combat boots.

I washed my hands and left the bathroom, headed out of the building and walked up to my truck to see Nick and Finn waiting for me.

"Hey, are you okay to do our next job?" Nick asked me.

"I'll be fine...let's do this," I said as I got into my truck and started the engine.

Nick got into the passenger seat as Finn went into his van, and we drove until Finn and I stopped a few blocks away from our destination and we got out.

"Alright Finn, you remember what we need to do, right?" Nick inquired.

"Shit Kid, you and Martin know that I hate wearing that fucking outfit," Finn grumbled in irritation.

"Oh, Jesus...just suck it up, Finn. This won't take long," I reassured him, and Finn grumbled as he put a baby pacifier in his muzzle, took out an elephant costume and put it on.

We walked to our destination and were crossing an alleyway until a horn blared next to us, and we all jumped out of the way when a ram driving a delivery truck nearly hit us.

"Watch where you're going, dickheads!" the ram shouted at us as he was driving away, and I flipped him off in response.

"Fucking asshole..." I muttered under my breath as we all entered the ice cream shop and the prey animals all glared at me with caution as I watched the place and scanned the perimeter for any exits just in case this con turned completely FUBAR.

I heard the door next to me open, and I looked to my left to see a female rabbit wearing a police uniform with a crossing guard vest and hat. The rabbit saw me and I nodded once just as the elephant cashier started giving Nick a hard time.

"Listen, I don't know what you and your human friend over there are doing skulking around during daylight hours, but I don't want any trouble in here, so leave!" the cashier demanded with a glare just as I heard a noise of a holster being unhooked, and I looked to see the rabbit hovering a paw over a small can of fox repellent, causing me to shoot daggers at the disgusting can. I saw the rabbit starting to approach my brother and Finn, and I tensed up since Nick and I have had bad experiences with cops before due to racial profiling.

"My human friend and I are not looking for trouble either, sir. I simply want to buy a jumbo-pop for my little boy. You want the red or the blue, pal?" Nick asked Finn, who did his act as a kit by waddling over to the counter and pointed to a red jumbo-pop that was in the display case, making the cashier gesture him to back up with his trunk.

"Oh come on kid, back up. Listen, buddy, what? There aren't any fox ice cream joints in your part of town?" the cashier questioned condescendingly and I felt anger at the clearly speciest remark that was thrown at my brother.

"Uh, no-no, there are, there are. It's just my boy, this goofy little stinker, he loves all things elephant and he wants to be one when he grows up," Nick explained as Finn put the hood over his head and tooted with the party blower and Nick added, "Isn't that adorable? Who the heck am I to crush his little dreams, huh? Right?"

"Look, you probably can't read fox, but the sign says we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone, so beat it!" the cashier snapped rudely as he showed the sign in question, and I felt like knocking this asshole into next week so that I could teach him a lesson in manners.

"You're holding up the line," a female elephant behind Nick stated impatiently as she nudged him and Finn, and Finn started making a fake cry just as the rabbit cop walked over.

"Hello, excuse me?" the rabbit announced and everyone turned to look at her just as I approached and stood next to Nick and Finn.

"Hey, you're gonna have to wait your turn, Meter Maid," the cashier snapped in irritation.

"Actually, just a quick question. Are your customers aware that they are getting snot and mucus with their cookies and cream?" the rabbit pointed out, and one elephant that was sitting at a table with his mate reacted by spraying out his ice cream with his trunk, sending it all over his mate's face.

"What are you talkin' about?" the cashier questioned in confusion while Nick and I looked at the officer in interest.

"Well, I don't want to cause you any trouble, but I believe scooping ice cream with an ungloved trunk is a class-three health code violation," the officer explained as the cashier looked back at a fellow employee, who was doing exactly that as he grinned sheepishly, wiped his trunk on his apron, and walked away.

"Which is kinda a big deal. Of course, I could let you off with a warning if you glove those trunks and, I don't know, finish selling this nice dad and his son a...what was it?" the officer asked Nick.

"A jumbo pop, please," Nick clarified with a fake smile.

"A jumbo pop," the officer repeated as Finn let out noise with his horn and the cashier sighed tiredly.

"15 dollars," the cashier grumbled in defeat, and Nick nodded.

"Thank you so much...thank you," Nick told the cashier and the officer as he reached into his pocket and muzzle-palmed, "Oh no, are you kidding me? I don't have my wallet! I'd lose my head if it wasn't attached to my neck. That's the truth...I'm sorry pal, gotta be the worst birthday ever. Please don't be mad at me. Thanks anyway, officer."

Nick, Finn, and I turned around to walk away, Finn giving me a subtle smirk since that cop would most likely do the decent thing.

"Keep the change," I heard the cop say as she slapped some money down on the counter.

* * *

"Officer, we can't thank you enough. What you did was really decent of you. Is there any way we can pay you back?" I asked as we all left the shop with a jumbo pop.

"Oh no, my treat. It's just...you know, it just burns me up to see folks with such backward attitudes towards foxes. I just wanna say your friend is the kindest, most compassionate fox I've ever met, who's a great dad and just a...a real articulate fella," the officer praised, and Nick put a paw on his chest.

"Well, that is high praise. It is rare that we find someone so non-patronizing, officer..." Nick trailed off.

"Hopps. Judy Hopps, Mr...?" Judy asked.

"Wilde, Nick Wilde," Nick introduced as he shook her paw.

"Martin Walker," I pitched in while I also shook her paw. Judy then leaned down to look at Finn.

"And you little guy, you wanna be an elephant when you grow up? You be an elephant because this is Zootopia, where anyone can become anything," Judy stated as she took out a police sticker and placed it on Finn's chest.

"Oh boy...I tell him that all the time. Alright, here you go...two paws!" Nick grunted as he handed the giant popsicle to Finn and added, "Yeah...aww, look at that smile. That's a happy birthday smile! Alright, give her a little bye-bye toot-toot."

Finn blew the horn twice and Judy mimicked a train horn as we went to leave.

"Well, it was nice meeting you officer Hopps, so keep up the good work," I encouraged while Nick, Finn, and I started walking away.

"Just doing my job. Bye!" Judy called out to us before we turned around the corner and dropped our pleasant facades.

"You know what, little brother? I almost feel sorry for that cop since she is most definitely new around here...poor kid has no idea what this city can do to you," I remarked as we arrived at Finn's van and my truck.

"Meh, she'll learn and she'll realize that her impossible dream will become nothing more than a dream," Nick stated cynically.

"She's a complete fucking dumbass for falling for that! Treating me like some damn baby..." Finn muttered after we loaded the jumbo pop into the back of his van.

"Now now son, watch the language," Nick teased with a smirk.

"Fuck you, asshole!" Finn retorted irritably.

We got into our respective vehicles and drove to our normal location to melt the jumbo pop. Nick watched out the window as the buildings passed by. Pretty soon, we arrived at our destination and got out. I pulled out two groups of sticks from the back of my truck and used a ladder to climb up to the roof of the nearby building. I tied the bundles of sticks together with a rope just as Nick joined me with the jumbo pop, placing the frozen treat on the sticks and we waited. While we waited for the jumbo pop to melt, I took my hat off and wiped away the sweat gathering on my forehead due to the sun glaring down on us...eventually, the jumbo pop melted and the liquid flowed from the roof and into jars Finn set up. Once we were done, Nick slid down from the roof and used the drainage pipe for a fast way down, and I grabbed the sticks with the large piece of wood while I climbed down in order to toss them into the dumpster next to me.

* * *

"You do know that she's following us, right?" Nick asked while I glanced at the left side mirror to see the police tuk-tuk following us from a distance.

"Yeah...doesn't she have a job to do instead of following us around all day? And are we just going to let her keep following us?" I wondered.

"Why not? It would be funny to see her try to arrest us, only to discover that she can't because of our permits," Nick remarked with a smug grin, causing me to shake my head.

"Nick...I don't know if you are either extremely brave or have a serious death wish..." I muttered dubiously as we arrived in Tundra Town and parked at the perfect spot to freeze the liquid.

I took off my jacket in order to put on a heavy sweater and a hoodie to keep myself warm. I shivered a little from the arctic temperature while I put my jacket back on and we all went to a patch of ground where the snow had accumulated. Finn stepped into the snow and placed sticks next to the pawprints while Nick and I took our time pouring the liquid into each pawprint. I glanced at Judy watching us in the distance.

 _"Doesn't she realize she would lose her badge for not doing her job?"_ I thought once the liquid froze up into paw shaped popsicles.

We packed everything up and I took off my sweater and hoodie as we drove back to Savanna Central to get set up. We pulled up near Lemmings Bros Bank as Finn got out to hide in the nearby recycle bins. Nick and I pushed the cooler of frozen treats. We waited next to the bank for our moment, when the clock chimed and a line of suited lemmings left the bank.

"Pawpsicles! Get your pawpsicles!" Nick announced and the line of lemmings headed to us.

The lemmings bought our merchandise and tossed the sticks into the recycle bins once they were done eating. Finn came out of the bins to load up the sticks and tie them together into stacks while he grumbled.

"Calm down Toot-toot, and be a good boy now," I teased with a sly grin, and I grunted in pain when Finn hit me in the leg.

"Shut your fucking mouth, asshole! I don't want to hear it from you either!" Finn snapped in irritation which caused me to raise my hands in surrender.

"Chill out Finn. I'm just fucking with you," I placated while Nick and I got into my truck.

We drove to Little Rodentia and got out of the vehicles, then carefully navigated our way to a construction site in order to avoid stepping on the tiny residents. Nick and I placed the stacks of sticks in front of the mouse foreman, who looked up at us.

"Lumber delivery," Nick said and the foreman stared at the sticks in confusion.

"What's with the color?" the foreman questioned.

"It's redwood," I lied with a cool smile, Nick nodding in agreement.

The foreman paid us for the delivery and we went back to our vehicles and drove to a nearby alley. Nick counted out Finn's take after handing me twenty.

"39, 40, there you go. Way to work that diaper, big guy!" Nick called as Finn went to get into the van.

"What? No kiss bye-bye for daddy and uncle Martin?" Nick joked while I laughed. Finn shut the driver door and spit out the pacifier as he glared at us.

"If either of you dickheads kisses me tomorrow, I'll bite your fucking faces off! Ciao," Finn threatened as he started his van and took off. Nick and I performed two-finger salutes and chuckled.

"Damn...he really needs to switch to decaf," I remarked and spotted Judy standing in the street with a stern glare.

"Well, I stood up for you and you lied to me, you asshole! And you! I saw you inside the shop! You were involved in this scam?!" Judy exclaimed in outrage.

"Define involved, lady," I remarked smoothly with a smirk.

"It's called a hustle, sweetheart. And I'm not a liar, he is!" Nick stated while he pointed to her left.

Judy quickly looked and we took advantage of the distraction by walking away and quickly turning around the corner. We could hear Judy protesting while she tried to catch up to us.

"Okay Slick Nick, you and your friend are under arrest," Judy declared angrily.

"Oh really? For what?" I questioned mockingly.

"Gee, I don't know? Selling food without a permit, transporting undeclared comers across burrow lines, and false advertising," Judy listed, prompting us to take out our permits and show them to her.

"Permit, receipt of comers, and we didn't falsely advertise anything. Take care," Nick stated as we stopped at my truck.

"You told the mouse that those popsicle sticks were redwood!" Judy accused me.

"Exactly...redwood, with a space in the middle, wood that is red. You can't touch us kid, we've been doing this since we were born," I said as I unlocked the driver side door.

"What he said, Carrots," Nick remarked, causing Judy to puff up her cheeks in indignation.

"You assholes are gonna want to refrain from calling me Kid or Carrots!" Judy snapped irritably.

"Look what we did, little brother. We appeared to have hurt her feelings," I pointed out wryly, and Nick grinned as he shrugged.

"Our bad, because we figured that you came from some carrot choke co-dunk, no?" Nick inquired in amusement while we stared at her.

"No! Co-dunk is in Deerbrook County and I grew up in Bunnyburrow!" Judy retorted.

"Okay lady, stop us if we're wrong? Naive little hick with big grades and big ideas decides 'hey, look at me, I'm going to move to Zootopia'. Right, Nick?" I asked.

"Exactly. Where predator and prey live out in harmony and sing Kumbaya. Only your first lesson is to learn that we are always at each others' throats and there is no peace and harmony in this city. As for your second lesson in becoming a big city cop, imagine your surprise when you become a Meter Maid. For your third and final lesson, you think people actually care about your opinions but you learn they don't give a shit about you or your dreams. And soon enough, those dreams die and said bunny sinks into emotional and literal squalor, living in a box under a bridge until she has no choice but to go back home with that cute little fuzzy tail to become...you're from Bunnyburrow, right? So, how about a carrot farmer? Does that sound about right?" Nick questioned with a calm smile.

"He has a point, so how about you move along and do your job like a good little Meter Maid?" I suggested with a slightly bitter undertone.

"Look here! No one tells me what I can or can't be, especially a couple of douchebags who never had the balls to be anything more than popsicle hustlers!" Judy insulted and I sighed while kneeling down in front of her.

"I can see that you are missing the point, so I'm just going to say it. Everyone comes to Zootopia thinking they can be anything they want, but they can't. In this fucking city, you can only be what you are...sly fox, broken human, and dumb bunny," I lectured while Judy looked at my military ID tags and parts of the large burn scar that wasn't covered by my shades and hat.

"I'm not a dumb bunny and you are a veteran? You took a vow to protect your country and it's constitutional rights, so why are you being a criminal? Aren't you being a part of the problem instead of the solution?" Judy questioned.

I felt fury rise up as Nick sucked in air through his teeth, seeing him with this grimace on his muzzle as I stood up and glared down at Judy coldly.

"Let me tell you a little story...naive human signs up to fight for his country in order to make a difference, only his first mistake is by discovering that it's not fun and games...his second mistake is thinking he wants to help people when some people can't be saved...as for his last and final mistake, he thinks he is a hero by going into a city covered in blood and sand to save people, only he slaughtered the very people he wanted to help and lost the only two men in his unit while placing the blame on a dead man. Soon enough, that human comes home physically and mentally scarred while sometimes considering about eating his own gun. When you put on the uniform and pick up your rifle, you are becoming a part of something much bigger than yourself and you sacrifice your blood, sweat, tears, and soul to ensure your country's freedoms. Let me give you a piece of advice...quit your job and go home, because life isn't a game where you can start over if something goes wrong. Sometimes, you are forced to make choices that stay with you for the rest of your life...and you eventually question yourself if what you did was the right decision or not. You'll never be a real cop, so don't even bother trying to be something you're not...let's go, Nick," I said stoically as I opened the driver side door and got into the truck.

As Nick and I drove away from Judy, I could see her looking horrified in the review mirror while I turned around the next corner and stayed quiet.

"Martin...are you okay?" Nick asked tentatively.

"I'm fine," I stated in a tone that told him to drop it.

Eventually, I dropped Nick off at his apartment and headed home. When I arrived, I went inside.

"I'm home!" I announced as I took off my hat and shades, putting my jacket on the coat rack just as Trevor and Luke went over to talk.

"Hey, Dad. How was work today?" Trevor asked while I went to the living room sofa to sit down.

"Ugh...it was stressful," I grumbled as I leaned back and closed my eyes.

"Well, how about you get some rest since you're exhausted...and, is there any news about mom?" Luke inquired tentatively.

"No...I wish the police would get off their butts and do something about it...I miss her," I admitted while I stood up and went to my room.

I took off my boots, socks, and belt, too tired to take off my shirt as I laid down on the bed and fell asleep.

* * *

A/N Finally got this one done! As for Martin being an asshole to Judy, you have to admit that she kinda crossed the line and Martin is not exactly fond of cops due to bad experiences in his childhood. So, I know this is following the movie and that you guys don't like that, but rest assured that I have a few surprises in store for you all that I think you would like. Review and stay tuned.


	4. Chapter 4

Savanna Central, Zootopia, Illinois, 2016.

I had woken up just as morning came and one moment, that rabbit cop popped up in the forefront of my mind which made me feel slightly pissed at the gall she had while I stared up at the ceiling. Evidently, I got up from bed, took a shower, put on a fresh set of clothes, and made sure I was properly dressed. With a brief look in the mirror, I left the bedroom and headed into the kitchen to make breakfast for me and my kids.

Once I was done, I got the table set up and sat down just as Trevor and Luke entered and also sat down at the table.

"Morning Dad," Trevor greeted as we started eating our breakfast.

"Morning," I replied as I looked through the morning paper.

What caught my attention on the paper was that there were violent incidents that had occurred in Los Angeles involving predator and prey animals along with humans after the recent maulings in five states and police shootings started getting more frequent. I shook my head at that and it made me think about Kathy, which I wondered if she is okay and that she'll be found soon. By the time we were done with breakfast, Trevor and Luke headed to the front door and looked back at me as I was cleaning up.

"We'll see you after school, Dad," Luke told me and I nodded.

"Okay, just make sure to pay attention in class and don't get into any fights," I instructed and they rolled their eyes.

"We know, Dad," Trevor groaned slightly and I chuckled.

"Just making sure so have a good time," I said good-naturedly and they left quickly to prevent missing the morning bus.

After I had finished cleaning up the dirty plates and put them away, I put on my hat, shades, and jacket just as I left the apartment and exited the building to head towards my truck. I got into my truck and drove to Nick's apartment where he and Finn were waiting for me, and I arched a brow when I saw that Finn was wearing the elephant costume and sitting in a stroller with a grouchy expression.

"Hey, do I really want to ask why the hell Finn is in a baby stroller?" I wondered in confusion after I parked and got out of the truck.

"Well, we're just going to be taking a casual route through the city. Do you want to come with because we're going to be targeting potential marks while we're at it," Nick offered and I shrugged nonchalantly.

"Why not? I don't have anything else planned," I agreed and Finn huffed.

"Why the hell do I always have to wear this fucking outfit? I should have one of you assholes wear it and see how you like it," Finn grumbled, causing Nick and I to shoot him dry looks while we started walking.

"No offense Finn, but the two of us are never going to fit in that costume so it's kinda pointless when you think about it," I pointed out and Finn flipped me off as he laid down and shut his eyes.

"Whatever...I'm going to get some shuteye so wake me up when something interesting happens," Finn huffed as he got comfortable and fell asleep.

 _"God...lazy bastard,"_ I thought with a slight grin as we kept walking, but I felt annoyed when Finn started snoring and I sighed quietly.

"Jesus, talk about being loud enough to wake the dead," I muttered and Nick snickered as he shut the cover of the stroller.

Suddenly, I heard a small car pulling up next to us and when I looked, I sighed irritably as I saw that it was the rabbit cop from yesterday driving in her tuk-tuk.

"Hey Nick, guess who's back," I told Nick, who looked confused until he saw Judy and rolled his eyes slightly.

"Hello, it's me again!" Judy greeted cheerfully, prompting Nick and me to put up fake pleasant smiles.

"Hey, it's Officer Toot-Toot!" Nick remarked and Judy laughed dryly.

"No...actually, it's Officer Hopps and I'm here to ask you two some questions about a case," Judy corrected as she took out a notebook and a pen that looked like a carrot.

"What happened Meter Maid, did someone steal a traffic cone? It wasn't us~" Nick sang as we moved a little quicker to get away from our little stalker.

"I think her job is to hand out citations and not investigate why she's supposed to," I quipped as I shot a mocking grin at Judy.

As we kept moving, I thought that what we said would've let her know we were far from interested in talking to her after what had happened yesterday, but Judy sped up in front of us next to an alley and rang the siren once as she stepped out. My fake smile vanished and I shot her a look of irritation while Nick was also looking none-too-happy.

"Hey Carrots, you're gonna wake the baby so we gotta get to work," Nick hissed quietly in order to not wake up Finn since he could be really nasty when he doesn't get any sleep.

"Yeah, so why don't you go back to writing citations and leave us alone," I suggested as Judy walked over to us.

"This is important sirs because I think your ten dollars worth of popsicles can wait," Judy stated and Nick scoffed.

"We each make two hundred bucks a day, Fluff! Three hundred and sixty-five days a year since we were twelve and time is money, so hop along," Nick urged while gesturing for her to leave.

"Please, just look at the picture," Judy said in exasperation as she took out a picture of a familiar otter wearing a green sweatshirt, blue jeans, and glasses.

I frowned slightly as I saw the photo of Emmitt Otterton and had heard that he was one of the predators that have gone missing like my wife, prey animals, and humans. I recalled how nice Emmitt was when Nick and I used to work for Mr. Big, then I wondered what was going on since there were a lot of people going missing in this city and in five other states as the violent attacks and police shootings kept getting worse for the past few weeks.

"You two sold Emmitt Otterton that Pawpsicle, right? Do either of you know him?" Judy questioned and Nick leaned forward slightly with a smirk as he rested his arms on the handlebar of the stroller.

"We know everybody and we also know that somewhere, there is a toy store missing its stuffed animal so why don't you get back to your box?" Nick mocked as Judy started looking crestfallen.

"He's right...look, lady, following us was funny at first, but now it's irritating us and I'm starting to consider filing a complaint to the ZPD for harassment. So, why don't you go back to your job and leave us alone before you find yourself losing your badge," I threatened calmly and Judy frowned in displeasure as she put away the photo.

"Fine...I tried to ask nicely but you two have left me no other choice, so now we'll have to do this the hard way," Judy stated and I scoffed.

"Seriously? What the hell could you-" I started to say, but the sound of metal clinking and something restraining my wrist cut me off.

I looked and was stunned to see that I was cuffed to the lamppost I was standing next to and I could also see that Nick's stroller was booted as he looked down and stared at her in shock.

"Did you just boot my stroller/cuff me to the lamppost?" Nick and I questioned in disbelief as Judy stood straight.

"Nicholas Wilde and Martin Walker, you two are under arrest," Judy declared firmly and Nick smirked.

"For what, hurting your feelings?" Nick mocked in a baby tone since this cop didn't have anything she could pin on us.

"Felony tax evasion," Judy clarified and Nick's smirk vanished while I was widening my eyes in horror.

"Yeah...two hundred dollars a day, three hundred and sixty-five days a year since you two were twelve...*mumble*...equals two million, four hundred, and sixty thousand I think...I mean, I am just a dumb bunny but we are good at multiplying.

Anyway, according to your tax returns Mr. Wilde, you reported...let me see here...zero! Unfortunately, lying on a federal form is a punishable offense which leads to five years in a federal penitentiary," Judy explained after she looked through a document and Nick's eyes were wide open in shock.

"Wait! I paid my taxes so why are you arresting me because I haven't done anything wrong!" I exclaimed and Judy looked smug as she turned her attention on me.

"Simple Mr. Walker, aiding and abetting which can lead to either a fifty thousand dollar fine or a year in prison if it's proven as a misdemeanor," Judy told me and Nick cleared his throat as he calmed down and regained his confidence.

"Well, it's our word against yours so I doubt anyone will believe you over us," Nick stated and Judy held up her pen with a grin.

She pressed a button on the side of it and a recording of what Nick said a few moments ago played back as Nick and I stared at each other in horror. I was stunned beyond belief at the fact that a fucking cop outsmarted us and I tried to keep calm since Nick and I swore to each other that we would never let anyone see that they got to us...but I couldn't deny that we were seriously screwed at this point and I was terrified of the fact that my kids could be taken away from me and placed in the system once I was sent to prison.

"Actually, it's your word against yours so if you two want this pen, you're gonna help me find this poor missing otter or the next place you two will be selling Pawpsicles will be the prison cafeteria. It's called a hustle, sweethearts," Judy mocked as she grinned and I started glaring at her with barely restrained fury.

This was unbelievable...we were out of options and I was steamed at the fact that a cop was blackmailing us, which is why Nick and I only had two choices at this point. We were to either help find Emmitt and get that damn pen to avoid spending time in prison, or we refuse, get arrested, and I spend a year in prison while Nick spends the other four years in a federal penitentiary along with my kids being taken from me and separated into different foster homes in other places in the country.

I was livid at that manipulative rabbit for doing this to us and I had half a mind to teach her a lesson but I was not only cuffed to the lamppost, I also knew that was a very bad idea since I would be in even worse trouble for assaulting a police officer. As much as I hated to admit it, she had conned us and we couldn't do anything about it.

"She fucking hustled you," I heard Finn say and Nick and I glared at the stroller as the cover opened and Finn stood up laughing his ass off.

"She hustled you two good!" Finn shouted gleefully as he hopped up and gripped Nick's tie while he added, "You guys are cops now so you're gonna need one of these."

Just as Finn said that, he ripped off the police sticker that was on his costume and slapped it onto Nick's Hawaiian shirt as he jumped down and headed into the alleyway.

"Have fun working for the fuzz!" Finn called to us as he laughed and I shot a withering glare at him.

"Finn, you are not fucking helping!" I snarled in outrage while Judy looked at us sternly.

"Start talking," Judy demanded and we sighed since we had no choice but to answer her questions.

"Look...we don't know where he is but we saw where he went, so are you happy now?" Nick grumbled and Judy perked up.

"Great, so let's go!" Judy said cheerfully and Nick and I shot each other knowing looks as we smirked.

"A little warning, it's not exactly a place for a...cute little bunny," I warned with a cheeky grin and Judy glared at me as she got into the car.

"Don't call me cute, so get in the damn car," Judy snapped and Nick shrugged.

"What the hell, you're the boss," Nick said as he went to leave, but I cleared my throat to get their attention.

"Are you two forgetting something?" I suggested as I held up my restrained arm and added, "Could you get these fucking cuffs off me first because I'm pretty sure I can't go anywhere while I'm chained to this lamppost."

Judy looked embarrassed as she got out of the tuk-tuk and headed over to me, taking out a pair of keys and unlocking the handcuffs so that I would be free. I rubbed my wrist and looked at the small car, noticing that there wasn't enough room for all three of us.

"You know, Nick and I would love to come with you except that there's no room for all three of us in that clown car," I pointed out sarcastically and Judy groaned at that.

"Dammit...I should've thought about that so what do we do now?" Judy wondered and Nick smirked.

"Well, looks like you'll have to give us the pen now and let us be on our way since we can't come with you," Nick remarked smugly and I had a bad feeling when Judy looked at me with a gleam in her eyes.

"Mr. Walker, I remember seeing you driving a truck yesterday. You wouldn't happen to have it parked nearby, do you?" Judy inquired and I tensed up.

I opened my mouth and was about to lie to her but she held up the pen and replayed the recording, which caused me to throw my arms up in exasperation as I groaned, "Okay dammit, it's at the front of Nick's apartment building so please quit threatening me! Christ, you are a real piece of work."

"Thank you, so let's go," Judy encouraged and gestured for me to pick up the tuk-tuk in order to carry it.

I shot her an unamused expression as I went over to the small police vehicle and lifted it up in my arms, grumbling non-stop during our walk back to the apartment building but I couldn't help but grin slightly at what Nick and I had planned since we were going to make her life a living hell for what she did to us.

 _"Yeah...payback's a bitch, kid,"_ I thought as we arrived at the apartment building and I loaded up the tuk-tuk in the back of my truck.

* * *

After I had loaded up the tuk-tuk in the back of my truck, we all got in and I started driving us to the location where Emmitt was last seen while I was listening to the news on the radio.

"In a developing news story, the unknown pathogen and violent attacks that have been spreading for the past few weeks in five states have risen to over thirty thousand cases, though scientists and medical personal are saying that the number could climb to the millions in just a few days.

While they discuss the possibility of a cure, members of the Centers for Disease Control have warned citizens and government officials in the possible case that the pathogen, now officially dubbed Wildfire, could mutate and Law Enforcement agencies are asking anyone to remain on high alert and report anyone showing signs of extreme aggression and flu-like symptoms-" the radio droned on before I shut it off and kept driving.

"Are you seriously listening to that crap? It's just a bunch of paranoia bullshit that's only going to scare the hell out of people, only for everything to turn out fine in the end," Nick grumbled and I shrugged.

"It's just news and you know the media, they can be a bunch of lying bastards most of the time and throw everything out of proportions just for more ratings," I stated and Nick sighed while Judy was sitting in the middle and looking at me.

"Are we almost there yet?" Judy asked with a slight tone of impatience.

"Keep your damn shirt on, we're just arriving at the location now," I informed her as we pulled up in front of the building called Mystic Springs Oasis, which eerily reminded me of the Mosques in Kabul.

"Well, this looks like a nice place," Judy muttered as we all got out of the truck, causing me to grin at Nick since I couldn't wait to see the look on her face when she realizes what people come to this building for.

"Are you sure you don't want to back out?" Nick asked and Judy shook her head.

"I'm not backing out until I find Mr. Otterton," Judy refused stubbornly.

"Okay, it's your funeral," I stated as we headed towards the front doors and entered the building.

When we entered, it was nearly dark with a curtain of beads hiding the front desk from partial view but Judy moved the curtain aside and went in first with Nick on her right and me on her left. Synthetic nightfall provided the atmosphere of this impromptu palace in its antechamber of pots, lamps, and indigo velvet curtains from the Middle East as there were many objects and furniture that did remind me of Kabul and other places I saw during my time in the Army.

Looking at the front desk, I saw a yak with a beaded necklace and a colony of flies surrounding his head as he meditated with a long and slow humming rhythm. The yak kept humming as we approached and I could see that he wasn't paying any attention to us.

"Hello?" Judy announced with a smile but the yak didn't react, which forced her to keep getting his attention until he sputtered and moved the locks of fur away to get a better look at Judy.

"Hi, my name is-" Judy started to say and was cut off when the yak chuckled and leaned forward slightly.

"Oh, I'm gonna have to hit the pause button right there 'cause we're all good on Bunny Scout cookies," the yak interrupted and I covered my mouth and tried hard not to laugh as Judy shot me a glare.

"No, I'm Officer Hopps with the ZPD and I'm looking for Emmitt Otterton. Has he frequented this establishment?" Judy questioned as she took out the photo of Emmitt and showed it to the yak.

The yak peered at the photo and gasped with his eyes wide open, then he let out a powerful sneeze that made me grimace and back up slightly with my hand covering my mouth due to the paranoia of what I had heard on the radio earlier.

"Yeah, old Emmitt! I haven't seen him for a couple of weeks but you should talk to his yoga instructor. I'd be happy to take you to her," the yak stated happily as he went to leave the desk.

"Thank you so much because I can't imagine...oh my God, you are naked!" Judy shrieked in alarm and immediately looked away to cover her eyes when it was revealed that the yak was fully nude.

"Hmm? Oh, for sure because we're a naturalist club," the yak informed her as he looked back at her with a grin.

"Yeah...in Zootopia, anything can be anything and these guys, they go completely commando," I told her with a smirk as the yak was unlocking the nearby doors.

"Nangi is on the other side of the pleasure pool but one more thing, I'm afraid you'll have to remove any clothing while we're here," the yak informed us and Judy looked completely mortified at hearing that.

"What?! You can't be serious?!" Judy exclaimed incredulously and Nick laughed.

"Sorry, but that's the rules here," the yak apologized with a shrug and I leaned down to be at Judy's eye level.

"What's wrong, Officer? I thought you wanted to find Mr. Otterton, or are you going to give up?" I wondered mockingly and Judy looked away with her ears drooping slightly.

"Ugh...fine, so where is the bathroom?" Judy muttered quietly.

"Down the hall to your left," the yak notified her as he gestured at the place in question.

Judy didn't say anything as we headed towards the bathroom and found out that it was a separate men's and women's locker rooms, then Nick and I went into the men's locker room while Judy headed into the woman's one.

"So, how long do you think Carrots will hold out?" Nick asked me as we were taking off our clothes.

"Hell if I know, but she'll break eventually...they always do," I muttered the last part as I took off my hat and shades, my nasty burn scar being displayed for anyone to see as my bare chest and back was covered in horrific scars of knife wounds, gunshots, and burn injuries.

Nick and I left the locker room and Judy kept her breasts and vaginal area covered as she met up with us, looking beyond embarrassed while we headed back to where the yak was waiting. I noticed Judy staring at my scars in horror and I ignored it as the yak opened the doors to reveal an area where there were a few animals and humans relaxing, playing, or practicing yoga while they were fully nude, but I'd noticed that there weren't a lot of people around as we looked out at the area with Judy staring in horror.

"I'm sorry, is this making you uncomfortable because there's no shame in calling it quits," Nick told her with a sly grin, and Judy huffed as she glared at him.

"Yes, there is and I ought to arrest you all for indecent exposure," Judy snapped irritably, and she walked out into the area while avoiding eye contact with the other naturalists.

"Damn, that's the spirit," I muttered as we followed after her.

I noticed that most of the nude animals and humans were staring at my scars with grimaces and looks of pity, and I shot them a pointed look that made them go back to their business as we passed them.

"Yeah, some people say that the naturalist life is weird, but do you know what I say is weird? Clothes on people!" the yak stated as we passed the pool of water where some of the animals were relaxing in.

"Excuse me, I couldn't help but notice that this place is looking a bit empty. What happened to most of the staff and customers?" I inquired and the yak sighed as he looked crestfallen.

"They're not here because of that virus that's been going around lately...yeah, most of the staff had to go home because they weren't feeling too well and none of the other customers showed up today," the yak explained and Nick sent a slight look of concern at me.

"I'm sorry to hear that so I hope they get better," I said sympathetically as we were approaching an elephant that was doing yoga with a zebra and a human.

"Thanks...anyway, this is Nagi so she'll totally remember everything," the yak informed us as we stopped in front of her and he added, "Hey Nangi, these dudes have some questions about Emmitt Otterton."

"Who?" Nangi inquired in an Indian accent as she opened her eyes abruptly.

"Emmitt Otterton? Been coming to your yoga class for, like, six years now," the yak clarified as Judy held up the photo of Emmitt.

"I have no memory of this otter," Nangi stated stoically as she and her students did another pose.

"He was here a couple of Wednesdays ago, remember?" the yak questioned.

"No," Nangi replied calmly.

"Yeah, he was wearing a green cable-knit sweater vest and a pair of corduroy slacks. Oh, and a paisley tie with a sweet Windsor knot, real tight. Remember that, Nangi?" the yak questioned while I was in disbelief and I looked at Judy.

"You wanna write all of that down?" I wondered and Judy started taking notes on the notebook she brought with her.

"I do not know," Nangi answered while she and her students took another pose that looked uncomfortable.

"Yeah, we both walked him out and he got into this big old white car with a silver trim...needed a tune-up because the third cylinder wasn't firing. Remember that, Nangi?" the yak asked, blissfully unaware that he was giving us the information we needed.

"I am unfamiliar," Nangi stated as she and her students took another pose.

"Excuse me, you didn't happen to catch the license plate number, did you?" Judy asked the yak after writing down most of the information.

"Oh, for sure because it was 2-9-T-H-D-0-3," the yak told her and Judy wrote it down.

"Wow, this is a lot of great info so thank you," Judy said and the yak shrugged lazily.

"Told you that Nangi has a mind like a steel trap...I wish I had the memory of an elephant," the yak muttered and I shot him a weird look.

"Yeah, because I'm sure that would be great for everybody," I remarked sarcastically as we headed to the locker rooms.

* * *

After we had put our clothes back on, we had left the building and Judy was taking a huge sigh of relief as we approached my truck.

"Well, Martin and I sure as hell had a ball. You're welcome for the lead and seeing as how any retard can run a plate, we will take that pen and bid you adieu," Nick stated as he reached down in a gesture for Judy to give him the pen.

"Crap, I can't run a plate because I'm not in the system yet," Judy muttered as she tapped the pen against her jaw thoughtfully.

"Give us the damn pen, please," I urged through gritted teeth while I tried to keep my temper under control.

"That all depends...Mr. Wilde, didn't you say that any retard can run a plate? Gee, I wonder who that could be?" Judy wondered with a mocking grin, causing Nick and me to throw our arms up in frustration.

"Dammit lady, we did what you asked! You can't keep us on the hook forever!" Nick exclaimed in disbelief.

"Not necessarily true since we still have about thirty-six hours left to solve this case, so can you two run the plate or not?" Judy asked as she slightly moved the pen between her fingers in a taunting gesture.

Nick and I glared at her for a few seconds until I had an idea and shot a knowing look at him, then Nick showed that he understood and we both regained our laid-back smiles.

"Actually, I just remembered that we have an old friend who's working at the DMV," I informed Judy, who perked up with a grin.

"Great, so let's go!" Judy cheered as she got into my truck and waited for us.

 _"Oh, you are so going to regret fucking with us, you damn cop,"_ I thought darkly as Nick and I got into the truck and started driving to the DMV.

I kept my eyes on the road as we passed buildings and noticed that there was a bunch of police cruisers blocking an alleyway, many ZPD officers keeping the scene clear as I spotted Mike standing among them, prompting me to pull up and roll down the window as I looked out.

"Hey, Mike!" I greeted loudly and he walked up with a smile.

"Hey Martin, how have you been?" Mike asked and I shrugged.

"I've been doing great, so what happened here because I think I can see blood and shell casings," I pointed out and Mike sighed.

"Martin, you know I can't talk about an active police investigation so why don't you go home and have fun with the kids, okay?" Mike suggested and I nodded.

"Sure, take care of yourself," I told him and he nodded.

"You too and be careful because there's this flu that's been going around and a lot of people are getting sick. Some of my fellow officers had to go home and get some rest because they caught it, so make sure to avoid contact with anyone that looks sick," Mike warned.

"I will be sure to do that and I hope they feel better soon," I said, waving as I drove away from the scene and rolled the window back up.

"Who the hell was that?" Judy inquired and I looked at her out of the corner of my eye.

"That was Michael Wolford, my brother-in-law and I don't think it's any of your business who I hang around with," I told her shortly and Judy shut up as I kept driving.

Eventually, we made it to the DMV and I parked in the parking lot where there wasn't a lot of cars, then we got out of the truck and headed to the front doors. We entered the building and headed to the one person that would help us.

"Flash is the fastest guy in here so if you need something done, he's on it," Nick informed her while we were walking.

"I hope so because we are really fighting the clock and every minute counts...wait, they're all sloths?!" Judy yelped when she saw the employees, who were doing their jobs painfully slow.

I saw the customers trying to be patient as a few were waiting, and I noticed that the place was just as empty as the naturalist club which made me wonder if some of the employees were also sick from the Wildfire flu that has been going around lately.

"You two said that this was going to be quick!" Judy snapped irritably as she shot a glare at us, prompting Nick to place a paw on his chest and look at her with a fake offended expression.

"Are you saying that because he's a sloth he can't be fast? I thought in Zootopia that anyone could be anything," Nick remarked with a sly grin.

"Yeah, you shouldn't be so judgemental, Officer," I added and held up my hands when Judy shot me a glare.

We arrived at the desk in the middle, which was occupied by a male sloth that was wearing a green shirt with a tie and gray trousers. Nick rested an arm on the desk while Judy placed both of her hands on it like a child excited for candy, and I leaned against the desk with my arms crossed.

"Flash, Flash, hundred-yard dash! Buddy, it's nice for me and Martin to see you," Nick greeted cheerfully while I raised a hand to say hello.

"Nice...to...see...you...and...Martin...too," Flash replied slowly with a tired expression.

"Hey Flash, we would love for you to meet our friend...um, darling, we forgot your name," I remarked and Judy laughed sarcastically until she looked at Flash.

"Officer Judy Hopps of the ZPD, so how are you today?" Judy asked.

"I...am...doing...just...as...well...as...anyone...who's...not...sick...today. What...can...I...do...for...you?" Flash inquired while Judy tried to be patient.

"Well, I was hoping that you could run a plate for us because we're in a really big hurry," Judy stated.

"Sure...what's...the...plate...number?" Flash asked.

"2-9-T-H-D-0-3," Judy replied and Flash leaned forward slowly just before he typed in the first number.

"2...9..." Flash muttered as he typed on the tablet.

"T-H-D-0-3," Judy reminded impatiently as she drummed on the desk.

"T...H...D...0..." Flash recited as he typed it down.

"3!" Judy exclaimed and whimpered slightly, then I saw a gleam in Nick's eyes and knew that he was going to do something to piss her off.

"Hey Flash, do you want to hear a joke?" Nick piped up and Judy instantly covered his muzzle with both paws.

"No, not until he's finished!" Judy shouted, earning a few stares from the other customers as they waited in line.

Flash nodded slowly and went to type down the last number until he finally pressed it.

"3..." Flash said as he was finished and Judy let out a huge sigh of relief.

"Thank you!" Judy cried in exasperation as she threw her arms up and I could see that Nick was taking the chance to continue his witticism.

"What do you call a three-humped camel?" Nick inquired as he held up his index, middle, and ring fingers.

"I...don't...know..." Flash responded and I knew what was coming next.

"Pregnant," Nick stated and he laughed while nudging Judy and me.

I chuckled as Flash looked stoic at first, but then his face slowly formed a grin and he laughed very slowly as his claws scratched the desk, and I could see that Judy was about ready to rip out her ears in frustration.

"Ha, ha, very funny so can we please just focus on the matter at hand here?" Judy urged and an idea formed in my mind.

"Hey Flash, is there any co-workers you want to share Nick's joke too?" I inquired and Judy about latched onto my torso with a look of disbelief.

"No! Why would you do that?!" Judy exclaimed and I struggled to get her off of me.

"Whoa, back up!" I warned sternly and Judy backed away just as Flash went to talk to the female sloth that was to his left.

As the two sloths were slowly conversating, Judy thumped her head onto the desk and groaned as the time passed by with me becoming bored. Eventually, after three hours have passed, Flash finished with the plate number and the details of Emmitt's car printed out on a fax machine. Flash reached over and started to remove the paper from the printer, the sound of the paper being removed grating my nerves and making me tense slightly as Flash went to hand it over to Judy.

"Here...you...go..." Flash said as he slowly handed the paper to Judy, who quickly snatched out of his hand and read through it.

"This car is registered to...Tundratown Limo Service! A limo took Otterton and the limo's in Tundratown!" Judy cheered as she started zipping out of the building.

"Way to hustle, buddy. We love you, be seeing you," Nick said over his shoulder as he and I followed after Judy and left the building.

"Hurry, we got to beat the rush hour and...it's night?!" Judy screamed as she saw that the sun had long set and it was night, the parking lot completely empty except my truck sitting in the middle completely alone.

"Well, I believe it was almost 1700 hours when we came in and now it's 1900 hours right now...damn, I guess time really does fly by when you're busy," I remarked and Judy looked completely steamed as she growled.

"That fucking sloth just wasted our damn time!" Judy shouted and Nick shrugged nonchalantly.

"Well, there's no use crying over spilled milk so how about we get to Tundratown and forget this whole three-humped camel joke ever happened," Nick offered with a smirk and Judy looked like she wanted to slap him.

However, she took a deep breath to calm herself down and we headed to the truck, getting and driving to our next destination though I hoped that we didn't encounter Mr. Big while we were there or things would get really ugly if that happened.

* * *

A/N And I'm finally done so sorry it took so long because I was trying to wrack my brain on where I wanted the story to go next. For any questions you all wanted to ask about the Wildfire virus and if this would go into the Walking Dead universe, that's not what's going to happen but the virus and the future events in this story will be based off a new open-world post-apocalyptic video game that came out recently.

If you are wondering what game it is, I'll give you a little hint...the main events of the game take place two years after the initial outbreak and the main protagonist fights against the infected in a rural wilderness.

If you all know what game I'm talking about, let me know your answer and stay tuned.

P.S I just wanted you all to know that I really suck at math so Judy multiplying the amount of how much Nick and Martin made over twenty years might not be accurate, so let me know if I made a mistake and I'll be sure to correct it.


	5. Chapter 5

Tundratown Limo Service, Tundratown, Zootopia, Illinois, 2016.

After we had left the DMV, I had gotten a call from my oldest son Trevor, who was wondering where I was and I had reassured him that I was going to be home soon after I had taken care of some business in a couple of days. Trevor understood and we chatted for a little bit until I eventually hung up, sighing and noticing that Judy was staring at me with a frown.

"What, is there something on my face?" I joked but Judy didn't look amused.

"Your kits don't even know what you really do, do they? If they could see what you do daily, they would be heartbroken," Judy lectured and I clenched the steering wheel while I shot her a stoic expression.

"You don't have any right to judge me when you're the one blackmailing me and my brother in the first place, not to mention that I don't need a damn lecture on how to raise my children," I stated coldly while I kept my eyes on the road, which was heading into a tunnel that went to Tundratown.

"That's another thing...why do you keep calling Mr. Wilde your brother when you two are clearly not the same species?" Judy wondered and I mentally counted down in order to prevent losing my temper.

"Because his parents adopted me when I was five, now are there any more dumbass questions you want to ask?" I retorted calmly as we arrived in Tundratown and I could almost feel the cold air seeping in from the outside.

Judy shut up after that and everything became awkward quickly while Nick was looking uncomfortable from the tension I was giving off slightly, then we finally arrived at our destination where it was closed and the gate to the limos was chained up. I pulled up near the entrance and got out with Nick and Judy following suit, shivering at the artic temperature as I took off my jacket and put on a sweater and hoodie, putting my jacket back on and rubbing my hands to keep them warm.

When Judy reached the gate, she took one look at the padlock and shook it a few times before groaning slightly.

"Closed...just fucking perfect," Judy muttered in frustration as Nick and I approached her.

"And I'm willing to bet that you don't have a warrant to search the premises," I remarked and Judy whipped around to show that she was looking none-too-happy.

"You two assholes wasted the day on purpose!" Judy snapped as she glared at us, prompting Nick to fake a look of shock as he laid a paw on his chest.

"Madam, we have a fake badge and would never impede in your fake investigation," Nick insulted with a mock offended expression.

"He has a point since we are technically deputized and wouldn't do anything to commit obstruction of justice," I agreed and Judy shot us a look of disbelief.

"This isn't a fake investigation because a loving family man might be dead and his wife and kits are terrified that he might never come home!" Judy exclaimed angrily as she took out a photo of Emmitt and his family in order to show us.

"Well, then they should've gotten a real cop to find him," Nick stated smugly and Judy threw her paws up in frustration.

"What the hell is wrong with you two?! Does seeing my life become a living hell make you both feel better in your Goddamn miserable lives?!" Judy growled and I made her back up when I leaned down at her with a pissed-off expression.

"Don't you ever fucking go there when you don't know the true meaning of the word...what the hell is our problem? How about when you blackmailed us in order to make us come with you by force and dragged us around the city all day while my kids are probably wondering where the hell I am right now.

You're saying that Mr. Otterton is missing? Well, my wife has been missing for nearly five weeks and none of you bastards are doing anything about it. Seriously, what the fuck are you cops doing? Sitting around with your thumbs up your asses? This conversation is over so give us that fucking pen because your "pretend" investigation is over and you are making me consider filing a lawsuit against the ZPD," I snapped viciously and Judy's nose twitched slightly as she looked almost afraid of me.

"Fine...take the stupid pen since we can't get in," Judy grumbled as she took out the pen and held it out for us to take it.

Nick nodded and reached out to take the pen, only to let out a noise of protest when Judy tossed the pen over the large fence and it landed on the other side as we shot deadpanned looks at her.

"Seriously, are you a fucking child?" I wondered in exasperation as Nick sighed irritably.

"First off, you throw like a damn bunny and secondly, you are a very sore loser," Nick told Judy as he started climbing the fence before I could stop him.

"See you later, Officer Fluff! Too bad this is over because we could've helped more!" Nick mocked as he climbed over the fence and dropped down, only to freeze up when he saw that Judy had tunneled under the fence and was standing right next to him with a grin.

"The thing is, you don't need a warrant if you have probable cause and I'm pretty sure that I saw a shifty low-life climbing the fence. So, you and your brother are helping plenty!" Judy stated cheerfully after I had dropped down from the fence and she bounded away like a happy schoolgirl.

Nick and I both glared at her until I reached out in Judy's direction and made a strangling gesture to show just how pissed I was and that it was taking everything I had to not go and become a cop killer by murdering her. I sighed and looked at Nick and he stared right back with a weary expression to show he was just as sick with dealing with that cop, then we followed after Judy and started looking for the limo Mr. Otterton took before he went missing.

Pretty soon, after checking a few cars, we had found a white Lincoln town car and Judy knelt down to rub away the frost that was on the front license plate until the registered number was revealed to be a match for the plate number we were looking for.

"2-9-T-H-D-0-3...this is it," Judy notified us in a whisper and I went over to the passenger door.

I opened the door and a cold mist flew out, forcing me and Nick to fan it away with our arms as Judy opened the driver side door and used the flashlight on her smartphone to see better while she searched the floor. While I climbed in and looked around, I could see Judy pick up something and holding it up to show that it was hair from an animal.

"Polar bear fur," Judy informed us and we nodded as we kept searching, Nick looking through the glove compartment and recoiling.

"Oh my God!" Nick yelped, causing Judy and I to look at him in alarm.

"What is it?" Judy questioned in concern, then I felt like slapping Nick in the back of the head in annoyance when he showed two soundtrack covers of Jerry Vale.

"The velvety pipes of Jerry Vale!" Nick clarified and started grinning playfully after he tossed the CDs back into the compartment, causing Judy to roll her eyes as he added, "But on CD...seriously, who the hell still listens to classical Italian music and on CDs no less?"

"Can we get this crap over with?" I urged irritably as I went back to searching, wanting to get this over with so that we'll never see Judy again.

I kept searching until I noticed the window that led into the back seats, then I climbed over and opened it but my eyes widened in shock as I took in what I was seeing.

"Um...kid, if your otter was here, he had a seriously bad day," I informed Judy uneasily, causing Judy and Nick to head over next to me.

"What kind of a bad day," Nick inquired hesitantly as Judy went to shine her light into the back seats.

"Like a bad day where he got so pissed that he tore the entire place apart," I clarified as Judy and Nick both saw what I was talking about with wide eyes.

The back seats and the area around it were covered in claw marks, the floor looking foggy with a glass cup, tiny droplets of faded dry blood, and what appeared to be a wallet on the floor.

"What the hell happened here? Have any of you seen anything like this before?" Judy wondered quietly with a disturbed expression.

"Nothing like this...Christ, it's like someone broke in and there was a hell of a struggle," I muttered as Judy shined her light on the wallet.

"Look at that," Judy whispered as she climbed through the open window, followed by Nick as I went to leave the car.

I got out and headed to the right rear door and opened it, climbing inside and closing the door as Judy picked up the wallet and showed us that it was Emmitt's.

"Look, Mr. Otterton was definitely here...what do you two think happened here?" Judy wondered as I looked around with a pensive expression.

I didn't know if it was me or something else, but an ugly feeling rose up in the pit of my stomach and I just knew that something was horribly wrong since all of this didn't make any sense. Then, I felt a chill go down my spine and I felt terrified for Kathy, feeling completely scared that something like this might've happened to her and that she could be dead. I saw Nick looking at the cup on the floor and when he knelt down to pick it up, my heart nearly stopped when I saw the letter B on it and had an idea on who owned the car we were in.

"Hold on a damn minute...polar bear fur, rat pack music, fancy cup? Oh shit..." Nick trailed off in realization with a look of horror and I knew that we were screwed if we didn't bug out of here ASAP.

"What? Whose car is this and what does the B stand for?" Judy questioned as Nick and I stared at each other with uneasy looks.

"The car belongs to Vito Corleone of the Corleone crime family, otherwise known as Mr. Big and let's just say that he's a bit pissed at us due to a screwup that had happened about a year ago. We need to bug out, now," I ordered urgently and Judy shook her head firmly.

"We can't leave because this is a crime scene," Judy protested in disbelief.

"Trust me, it'll be an even bigger crime scene if Mr. Big finds us here so let's go," Nick hissed as he rushed Judy to the door with me right behind them.

When Nick opened the door, he yelped with a startled expression on his face as he saw two large polar bears in suits standing in our way with pissed-off expressions and menacing growls. Before I could react, I was grabbed and dragged out of the car until I was thrown to the ground, then I was kicked in the ribs a few times while one heavy kick in the face made me dazed and in extreme agony.

"Martin! Raymond, Kevin, please don't hurt him because he wasn't involved in what I did! Look, I know I screwed up but please...let us go for old time's sake and we won't ever come back here, okay?!" I heard Nick pleading and then I was picked up and slung over Kevin's shoulder as Nick started to suddenly make gagging and choking noises.

My vision was blurry and I started to recover from my beating just as I was thrown into the back seat of a black Lincoln town car with Nick and Judy, then Kevin and Raymond sat on either side of us and it became very cramped in a way that forced Nick to sit on my lap in order to make it not so uncomfortable. I stared straight with a black eye and a bruised face as the car was heading to Mr. Big's mansion, looking at Raymond out of the corner of my eye and grimacing when I saw that he was on his phone and chuckling at a photo of him and Kevin holding a poor timberwolf in a suffocating chokehold.

"What the hell did you two do to piss off Mr. Big so much?" Judy whispered nervously.

"Look, Martin wasn't involved but I may have sold Mr. Big a very expensive wool rug that was made from the fur of a...skunk...'s ass," Nick explained hesitantly and I looked down at him in disbelief from what I had just heard.

"So, that's why he was so fucking pissed! Jesus Christ, what the hell is wrong with you Nick?! Disrespecting Don Corleone in such a manner, what did you think was going to happen?! Now we're all going to die because you decided to piss off the Don of the Corleone crime family!" I hissed incredulously while Judy looked stunned.

"Oh, son of a bitch," Judy muttered as the air turned even tenser.

While the limo drove through Tundratown, I thought about my kids and prepared for the knowledge of never seeing them again, though I hoped that I would be able to convince Mr. Big not to kill us by trying to appeal to him as a father and a husband. If we did survive this, I would never let my kids out of my sight or in this case, stop the business until Nick and I found proper gloves and face masks since we could get sick from the Wildfire flu.

Speaking of sick, the driver had the radio on for a few minutes now in order to listen to Jerry Vale music but now the news was on and they were currently talking about the flu that had been going around lately, only it had gotten worse.

"As we've reported for the past four days, the newly dubbed Wildfire flu continues to spread fast and relentlessly as citizens of Zootopia and the nearby areas of Bunnyburrow and Chicago have reported cases that have exceeded well into the hundreds of thousands, but now other cities and states beyond the first five states are also reporting cases of citizens exhibiting symptoms of the Wildfire flu.

In other news, unsubstantiated reports of the disease being in other countries are rising and scientists at the Center for Disease Control in Buffalo New York have stated that more cases add to the risk of a global pandemic, should the outbreak spread to other countries," the radio reported and I tuned out the rest as I looked out the window.

As I looked out the window, there wasn't a single person in this part of town, especially at night since roads were devoid of cars, bus stops were empty, and sidewalks were completely abandoned but that wasn't what made me uneasy. It was the lone caribou that was wandering by the road aimlessly, staggering and twitching in a way that made me think that he was on meth or something else.

When the caribou saw the car, his stare held a look that made me completely uneasy...like it was an unsatiable hunger just as the caribou threw up his head and let out a bellow that sent chills down my spine, then the caribou suddenly sprinted after the car with a feral scream that startled me slightly but I knew that he would never catch up with the car as it kept gaining its distance from the caribou that was hopped up on something.

"What is it, Martin?" Nick mouthed to me and I shook my head.

"Nothing," I responded just as quietly, but I couldn't help but feel that there was something going on that was making me on edge.

* * *

Pretty soon, we had arrived at Mr. Big's estate and drove through the gate until we stopped at the front doors, then I was forced out of the car with Nick and Judy and we were escorted none-too-gently to Mr. Big's office. We were led to Mr. Big's office and Raymond opened the door, just before we were pushed into the room and stood on the red carpet in the middle of the office. We all stayed silent as the door on the far right opened and a polar bear wearing a black suit and tie entered the office.

"Is that Mr. Big?" Judy whispered and Nick shook his head subtly.

"No, you'll know when you see him," Nick replied quietly as a second larger bear wearing a suit with a blue tie entered into the office.

Finally, a massive bear wearing a minister's outfit growled as he ducked under the small doorway and entered the office with his hands clasped loosely as he went over to the desk and sat down, moving his closed hands forward a few inches and opened them to show a tiny chair. The Minister, known as Koslov, turned the tiny char around to reveal a middle-aged shrew wearing a black suit with a bowtie and a green emerald ring on his finger.

I saw Judy tilting her head slightly and making a slight noise of confusion while Nick and I kept quiet until we were given permission to speak. Mr. Big raised his hand with the ring and Nick leaned forward to kiss it, followed by me after he was done and we both stood at attention.

"Mr. Big, we want to assure you that this was a simple misunderstanding," Nick reassured with a nervous smile and Mr. Big sighed.

"You and Martin come here unannounced on the day of my daughter's wedding," Mr. Big spoke in a wheezy voice, looking unperturbed.

"Of course not, Mr. Big, that was not our intention because we didn't come here voluntarily. We didn't know it was your car and we swear that we didn't know it was your daughter's wedding day, so congratulations," I complimented but Mr. Big looked stoic.

"Nicky, Marty, I trusted you two...I welcomed you two into my home when neither of you had anywhere to go. We broke bread together, played cards together, split our earnings together, and even grandmama made you two cannolis and how did you repay my generosity? A rug pelted from a skunk I did not wish to be killed, a skunk's ass to be precise. You two disrespected me and my grandmama, who I buried in skunk's ass rug," Mr. Big stated as he gestured at the photo of his grandmother, then Koslov made a sign of the cross due to the profanity and for Mr. Big's grandmother.

"I told you two to never show your faces again, but here you are snooping around with this...who are you, a performer? What's with the costume?" Mr. Big asked Judy, who stood up straight and I knew that she would get us killed if she said the wrong thing.

"Sir, I am a c-" Judy was about to say but Nick cut her off.

"Mime! She is a mime and this mime cannot speak, right?" Nick asked me and Judy spoke up before I could even say anything.

"No, I am a cop and I'm on the Emmitt Otterton case, and the evidence I found puts him in your car. So, intimidate me all you want because I'm going to find out what you did to that otter if it's the last thing I do," Judy threatened while Nick and I looked horrified at how Judy just signed our death warrants.

The air in the room became tense as Mr. Big rested his head on his hand with a content look, then he looked at Judy and I knew we were screwed judging by his body language.

"Well, then I have only one request...say hello to my grandmama. Ice em!" Mr. Big ordered his men and it all went to hell as my arms were pinned behind my back, making me struggle while Judy and Nick were each lifted up by the shirt collar and kevlar vest.

"Wait, I didn't see anything and I won't say anything!" Nick shouted in terror as he frantically tried to get free.

"And you never will," Mr. Big stated coldly while I was desperately trying to get free.

"No! Please, don't do it! I know that Nick disrespected you and your family but please don't kill him! He's one of the only precious things I have left in this world!" I begged frantically one of the polar bears moved the carpet and opened a trap door that led to deep icy water.

"Do not worry Marty, you will reunite with him and your parents in Heaven," Mr. Big promised and at that point, the horrific memory of Sgt. Lugo's death came flooding back.

* * *

 _I kept my head low as the gunfire pelted the yacht Adams and I were taking cover at and I managed to take down the final attacker with a single shot to the face, sending the lion to the sandy ground like a sack of bricks as we both stood up with our guns raised._

 _"That's all of 'em," Adams muttered as we moved out of cover and started heading to Lugo's position._

 _"You feel better now?" I questioned as we kept moving._

 _"Not even close...let's just get Lugo," Adams grumbled and I nodded._

 _"Works for me so get on the radio and tell him we're clear," I agreed and Adams reached for his radio._

 _"Yo Lugo, you read?" Adams spoke into the radio and my eyes widened in alarm when I heard Lugo's panicked breathing and angry shouting in the background._

 _"Adams?! Adams, oh shit!" Lugo exclaimed as I heard that the angry shouting was in Farsi._

 _"Lugo, what's happening?!" Adams questioned urgently._

 _"Fuck, I need help! They're closing in...oh shit!" Lugo gasped in terror while Adams and I started moving quickly to his location._

" _Talk to us, Lugo!" I urged and only heard the shouting get louder on the radio._

 _"Get the fuck- just stay the fuck away from me! Get back! Get the fuck back!" Lugo exclaimed in panic and the radio cut to static for a few seconds._

" _Soldiers must've followed him," I said seriously and Adams nodded._

 _"We gotta move!" Adams stated and we moved through a shantytown after kicking down a weak sheet of metal that was in the way._

 _"Lugo, you still there? Lugo!" I called into the radio and what I heard next nearly made my heart stop._

 _"You fucking bastards!" Lugo shouted and screamed desperately in Farsi until I lost the signal._

 _"Run!" I ordered in a panic and we both started sprinting quickly to where the sounds of the angry shouting were coming from._

 _We managed to stop at a corner and quickly moved to the right, only my eyes widened in complete horror when I saw a crowd of refugees standing around and jeering at Lugo, who's weapons and gear was missing while he was strung up to a lamppost and kicking wildly in mid-air with a rope around his neck._

 _"What in God's name?!" Adams exclaimed incredulously at the sight and I aimed at the rope._

" _Shoot the fucking rope!" I ordered frantically as we started firing._

 _We shot the rope and Lugo dropped to the ground as we moved in, forcing the angry crowd back by aiming our guns at them._

 _"Everyone get back, now!" I demanded as I quickly slung my M4A1 and knelt down to check on Lugo._

 _When I didn't feel a pulse, I started compressions while Adams was trying to keep the crowd back by ordering them._

" _Breathe, Lugo! Goddamnit, breathe!" I shouted desperately as I kept trying to revive Lugo._

" _How's he doing?!" Adams called to me over his shoulder but I was too busy doing CPR on Lugo to answer him._

 _"Come on, Lugo! Dammit, Lugo!" I screamed as I started hitting Lugo chest hard with my fist in a frantic attempt to bring him back._

 _When nothing happened, I stopped and stared down at the dead body of someone who was happy a few days ago and I shut his eyes with my hand._

 _"You better fucking pray he makes it!" Adams shouted to the crowd and yelled at me, "Let me take 'em, Walker! Sir, permission to open fire!"_

 _I didn't say anything and just laid Lugo's hand on his chest, then I staggered to my feet and unslung my rifle as I breathed heavily with an unhinged look in my eyes._

 _"You brought this on yourself!" A refugee shouted to me in English and I had completely lost it when something in me just snapped._

 _"Take them out!" I roared uncontrollably as I aimed and started slaughtering the refugees in a blood rage._

 _"Yes, sir!" Adams agreed and joined in while most of the refugees screamed in terror and agony as they all were being butchered from the onslaught of gunfire._

 _Finally, my gun ran empty and I stared at the piles of bodies with a dead expression while I reloaded methodically, Adams and I heading to the Tower where John Konrad was hiding like the fucking coward he was._

 _"That was for Lugo..." Adams muttered darkly but I wasn't paying attention as I reached for the radio to contact Konrad._

 _"If you're listening to this Colonel, here's what happens now. I'm going to kill every last one of your men and then I'm going to kill you...Sgt. Lugo is dead and for that, I will give no quarter. You brought this on yourself," I stated coldly while Adams and I were moving to the Tower._

* * *

Suddenly, I reacted by slamming a foot into Kevin's knee and he howled in agony as I elbowed him in the face to make him let me go. The other polar bears instantly took out batons and flicked them open before charging at me, and I dodged many swings as I broke either an arm, a leg, or their noses with nasty strikes while I was roaring in rage.

Raymond immediately ran into the office and grappled me from behind, causing me to roar as I backed up and slammed Raymond into a wall a few times before using his bulk against him in order to throw him over my shoulder and break his arm. Raymond screamed in pain as Kevin pulled out a Sig Sauer and tried to shoot me, but I grabbed his arm and quickly disarmed him before bashing the gun across his muzzle twice to send him crashing to the floor.

I aimed at the polar bears that were wailing in agony and I looked at the others with a wild look in my eyes, who had different reactions as Nick look stunned, Judy looked horrified, and Mr. Big had arched a furry brow while I was breathing heavily. I aimed at Koslov since he was the biggest threat, and he raised his hands in a peaceful gesture as a female shrew in a wedding dress came running in with an excited smile.

"Daddy, it's time for our dance!" the shrew known as Fru-Fru sang cheerfully as she twirled around happily, but then she noticed the scene I had created and looked concerned.

"Daddy, what's going on?" Fru-Fru asked hesitantly and Mr. Big held up a hand in a calming gesture.

"It's okay my dear, daddy's just doing some business so wait outside for me, okay?" Mr. Big reassured and Fru-Fru noticed Judy before she perked up.

"Wait, that's the bunny that saved my life yesterday from the giant donut!" Fru-Fru notified Mr. Big, who pointed at Judy.

"This bunny?" Mr. Big asked, looking completely flabbergasted and Fru-Fru nodded as she smiled at Judy.

"Yeah, hi!" Fru-Fru greeted cheerfully as the polar bears were struggling to get up and Judy waved.

"Hi, I love your dress," Judy complimented and Fru-Fru looked bashful while she smiled shyly.

"Thank you," Fru-Fru muttered and when the polar bears were about to attack me again, Mr. Big held up a hand and they stopped.

"Stand down," Mr. Big ordered calmly while I focused my attention back on them and Nick started to approach me hesitantly, causing me to aim at him which made him freeze up.

"Whoa...Martin, it's okay...it's Nick, your brother. I'm not going to hurt you, so please give me the gun. It's okay, they're not going to hurt us anymore," Nick assured gently as he carefully approached me and slowly took the gun out of my hands when I started to snap out of my PTSD episode.

"Nick?" I questioned shakingly and he nodded with a soft smile.

"It's me, Marty. You're okay now," Nick said and he gently hugged me while I trembled.

"I saw Lugo again...I saw him die," I whimpered as Nick carefully handed the gun back to Kevin.

"I know...I know," Nick said softly while I was recovering.

I slumped to the ground and Nick held me while I was breathing shakingly, eventually calming down and we stood up to look at Mr. Big.

"I'm...sorry," I spoke hesitantly and Mr. Big nodded in understanding.

"I forgive you, Marty," Mr. Big told me sympathetically and looked at Judy as he added, "Rabbit, you have done me a great service so I will help you find the otter. I will take your kindness and pay it forward."

Judy smiled as she leaned forward and they kissed each other's cheeks, then Judy leaned back and we all were escorted to where the reception area was being set up.

After a while, the party had finished and now we were currently sitting at a table as a waiter wearing a pink vest and a gold tie was carrying a tray with three slices of vanilla cake in his right hand, and Nick carefully took a tiny dish as the waiter passed by him. Nick stared at the tiny slice of cake in dismay and also eyed the nearly microscopic fork before shrugging slightly, taking the fork and scooping up a tiny piece of cake before tasting it and nodding with a satisfied smile.

"So, how are you familiar with Mr. Otterton?" Judy inquired as she was looking at Mr. Big.

"Mr. Otterton has been my florist for over eight years now and he's like a part of the family, and I even pay a fine lone for his wife and children. Before he went missing two weeks ago, he wanted to discuss something important with me even though he wasn't feeling too well from the flu that has been going around lately. It was probably something to do with a flower of some kind so that's why I sent that car to pick him up, but it never arrived," Mr. Big explained.

"Was it because he was attacked?" Judy questioned and Mr. Big shook his head.

"No...he attacked with his own two hands," Mr. Big clarified bluntly and I was completely taken aback like Nick and Judy were.

"Why would he attack?" Nick asked in confusion since it didn't make sense for Emmitt to attack anyone unprovoked.

"I don't know...the driver described that Mr. Otterton started coughing up blood and convulsed until he went crazy, ripped up the car, spilled some glasses, scared him half to death after Mr. Otterton gave him a nasty bite on the shoulder, and disappeared into the night," Mr. Big said with wide eyes, showing that he was completely shaken up by what had happened two weeks ago.

"This can't be the same otter," Judy denied in disbelief.

"It is," Mr. Big stated as he squinted at her.

"This doesn't make any sense...Mr. Otterton is a good guy, so it just not like him to attack anyone unprovoked like that," I chimed in and Mr. Big looked at me with complete seriousness in his eyes.

"My child...we may have evolved but deep down, we're all still animals," Mr. Big told me grimly and I tensed up while Nick and Judy looked at each other uneasily.

After he said that, a chill ran down my spine as I recalled the city of Dubai and how order had completely collapsed after that sandstorm surrounded the city to prevent people from leaving, causing desperation to set in as good decent people had become brutal and savage monsters just to survive. I knew that something was going on but I couldn't figure out what it was, which scared me more than anything since my kids might be in danger.

"Where do we find Mr. Otterton?" Judy asked and Mr. Big looked at her.

"The driver, Renato Manchas, should know but he went missing after he called to say that he wasn't feeling well. I sent two of my men to his house to find him but they never came back, and we didn't find anything when we searched for them. Mr. Manchas lives in a tree on Vine and Tujunga in the Rainforest District, so make sure that he and my men are okay when you arrive there," Mr. Big told us and we all nodded.

"That's just what we need so thank you, Mr. Big, for everything. Oh, and tell your daughter thank you for me," Judy said as we stood up from our chairs and went to leave.

"It is no issue and I'll be sure to tell her that," Mr. Big stated as we left the room and headed out of the building.

After getting a ride from one of the polar bears, we arrived back to where my truck was sitting and I drove us on a highway that headed to the Rainforest District while I thought about everything we had learned. As I was about to take a quick route off of the highway, I noticed that there appeared to be a traffic jam that had formed because of emergency vehicles blocking the way and I had to stop because of the few cars in front of the truck.

"What the hell is going on?" Nick wondered in confusion as I saw a police helicopter hovering above us with its searchlight on.

"Might have been a bad accident or something," I replied as I squinted my eyes and leaned forward to try and get a better look, just as I started hearing someone talking on a megaphone.

"For your own safety, please remain in your vehicles!" the man warned and I went to open the driver-side door and get out to see what was going on, only to quickly slam the door shut to prevent getting hit by a motorcycle cop as he sped past me.

"Jesus!" I yelped with a startled expression and Nick reached over to lay a hand on my shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Nick asked in concern while Judy was also looking at me.

"I'm okay...asshole nearly ran me over," I gasped and we all got out of the truck to see what the fuck was going on to require so many cops.

"Do you see anything?!" Judy asked me loudly over the deafening sound of the helicopter.

"No!" I replied just as loud as many humans and animals got out of their cars to also see what was going on.

"I repeat, please remain in your vehicles at all times!" the man on the megaphone warned again as I heard the sounds of people shouting, then I jumped when the sounds of gunshots rang out and I shot a startled look at Judy and Nick.

"Get back in the truck, now!" I ordered urgently.

"What the fuck is going on over there?!" Nick questioned in alarm as Judy looked uneasy.

"Get back in the truck!" I demanded and we all got in the truck as I shifted gears.

I turned left and quickly drove us away from the scene as I could see a couple of ZPD officers shooting someone that was charging at them, the bear stumbling to the ground after a few shots hit him in the center mass. I breathed heavily and didn't know what was going on, but something told me that this was going to get worse before it gets better and I prayed that my kids were okay since things were getting worse.

* * *

A/N Looks like things are starting to kick off and it's only going to get worse as time goes on. So, how did you all like the chapter because I based the highway scene off of the one in Fear of the Walking Dead season 1 episode one and if you don't know what video game I'm taking inspiration from, I will be showing hints throughout the story until we come to the main outbreak where things really fall apart.

If you all like this chapter, let me know and stay tuned.


	6. Chapter 6

Vine and Tujunga, Rainforest District, Zootopia, Illinois, 2016.

After we had left the highway, I drove into the Rainforest District while still reeling from what I had witnessed...it didn't make sense that people were just acting so completely aggressive suddenly, but something told me that this Wildfire flu is somehow connected to everything that's been going on lately. Then, I had a realization as I put it all together and I felt terrified for my kids since they are in serious danger and that Nick and I needed to find them and get the fuck out of this city before it all goes to hell quickly.

What made things feel even worse for me was the radio describing the Wildfire flu and how it was now being reported in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Canada while there were a few cases of infected in the UK before Judy shut it off.

"It was a mistake to turn that on," Judy commented and Nick nodded.

"Uh-huh," Nick muttered distractingly and I noticed that he was looking disturbed by what he had seen on the highway.

"Are you okay?" Judy inquired and Nick shrugged.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Nick answered unconvincingly and Judy let it go as it started raining and I turned on the windshield wipers in order to see.

After a while, we finally arrived at the street corner and I parked the truck to the side of the road before Judy got out and eyed the treehouse across a bridge as Nick and I looked at each other with nods.

"Alright, this is the place so all we need to do is see if anyone is-" Judy started to say and was cut off when I hit the gas and the truck's engine roared as it started to speed down the road, just as Judy reacted quickly by zipping in the way and I braked suddenly to prevent myself from hitting her just before I rolled down the window and looked out at her with an irritated glare.

"Kid, get the hell out of the way," I demanded sternly while Judy stayed put and crossed her arms.

"Nick, Martin, get out of the truck," Judy ordered and we shook our heads.

"We can't do that," Nick refused.

"Yes, you can because my car is in the back of the truck and what you two are doing is grand theft auto. I don't want to have to arrest you two but I will if I have to," Judy stated firmly as she kept her feet planted on the pavement.

I stared at her for a second and peered at the road behind her while the headlights shined at it, then I looked at the dashboard and the keys before I let out a frustrated sigh and shut off the engine.

"Fine, then we'll walk," I grumbled as Nick and I got out.

"Yes, to the house because we have a case to solve-" Judy said and was cut off.

"You still have a case to solve...we don't because we're not cops, you are," Nick pointed out and Judy sighed.

"Yeah, you're a criminal like your brother and have been spending years avoiding something simple as paying taxes while your brother helps you, which I promised that I, even though I shouldn't, would let go if you two helped me solve this case. Yeah, both of you really got sprouting careers there," Judy remarked sarcastically while I shot her an unamused expression.

"Well, you're just going to have to arrest us then," I challenged and Judy looked taken aback.

"So, you're saying that you and your brother want to go to prison?" Judy questioned dubiously.

"No, I'm not because what I am saying is that we need to warn our friends, get our families, and leave the city before it turns into a complete clusterfuck," I clarified seriously.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Judy asked in confusion.

"Think about it, kid, and really think about it because it took me a few hours to put it together. The news talks about this new flu strain going around nearly six weeks ago, which is just now starting to gain traction and at the same time, over a dozen people and my wife go missing as news reports talk about people tearing each other apart after they got sick.

Finally, Mr. Big told us about Mr. Otterton going into convulsions and coughing up blood before attacking Mr. Manchas, who also went missing soon after along with all the other people who went looking for them," I explained while Nick looked completely uneasy.

"Martin...what are you saying?" Judy asked hesitantly and I took a deep breath.

"What if this flu, whatever it is, when you're in the later stages of infection it somehow attacks the brain and causes some form of psychosis, like PCP or rabies?" I wondered grimly.

"It still doesn't add up because we've all been inoculated from rabies and if this flu is making people uncontrollably violent...wait, are you trying to tell me that they're...savage?" Judy questioned in disbelief.

"I don't know what to think," I muttered.

"Martin, what you're trying to say is crazy," Judy stated skeptically.

"I know, it sounds crazy too, but doesn't it back up Mr. Big's claim?" I reasoned nervously.

"I-I guess, but..." Judy trailed off and looked away.

"But what?" Nick piped up after being silent, and Judy looked like she was thinking as she gazed at Manchas' house and her eyes narrowed.

"We'll know when we find them all, so let's go," Judy stated firmly.

"Carrots, you heard Martin, we're not going because we need to get our friends and families out of this city. If Martin turns out to be right, then they could wind up in serious danger or get killed," Nick refused while shaking his head.

"And how do I know that you and your brother won't just go into hiding?" Judy questioned suspiciously.

"Because we care about our loved ones and right now, they are a priority since we need to get them to safety before something happens to them. If it makes you feel any better, you know who we are and could have every cop in the city looking for us if we do go into hiding," I pointed out.

"I'm an officer, Martin, and I can't just let you two go even if I run you and your brother through the system. You two either come with me and help solve this case, or I cuff you both to the truck and I'll do it myself," Judy threatened and I opened my mouth to object, only I looked away from her and stared down the road with a pensive look until I came to the conclusion that Nick and I had no choice in the matter and I threw up my arms in frustration.

"Damn it...fine, but I only pray that I'm wrong or we're all screwed," I relented reluctantly and Judy gestured for us to follow her.

As we were heading across the bridge, I found myself looking at the house and knew that we were walking into an unknown situation and I subtly inched my hand to my right hip in order to feel the concealed Glock that was holstered and hidden. I nodded in satisfaction since I was glad to be armed just in case we would be attacked by Manchas and Mr. Big's men, just as we made it to the other side and Judy knocked on the door.

"Mr. Manchas? I'm Judy Hopps with the ZPD and I'm here to ask you if you have any information as to what happened to Emmitt Otterton," Judy called out as we waited.

While Judy was waiting for Manchas, I examined the entire house and the surrounding area just to be safe but there was one thing that caught my attention. On the ground next to the door, there were well over ten newspapers and I could see that they were editions of the past week in a half which further proved Mr. Big's claim.

"Hello? Sir?" Judy repeated as she knocked on the door again but there was no sign of any response, which creeped me out due to how eerie it was.

Once I put down the newspapers, I headed over to the door and placed my ear against it and felt uneasy when I didn't hear anything, like there was nobody home. When I noticed something off about the door, I pushed on it slightly and it opened up to show a dark abyss that was barely lit from the outside.

"Do you have a flashlight?" Nick whispered quietly and Judy nodded.

"Yeah," Judy replied just as quietly as she took out a tiny clip-on flashlight and attached it to her kevlar vest, then she turned it on and the light revealed a place frozen in time...a place frozen in chaos.

The entire living room of the house looked like a warzone with chairs completely toppled over, a glass table shattered, and one of the light fixtures on the floor fully broken. My training kicked in as Judy went in to inspect the place, and I followed after her with my hand reaching for the butt of my gun while Nick was right behind me.

As we went deeper into the house, I noticed that Judy's flashlight was the only light source that was on in the entire home with all lights turned off, even under the doors leading to the other rooms were completely dark with the air feeling thicker than ever and I had a really bad feeling that welled up in the pit of my stomach.

"Mr. Manchas?" Judy called out carefully while moving the flashlight around to see better, and I could her starting to look nervous but she kept her nerve as she and Nick avoided the broken glass that was on the floor.

As we moved past the glass, there was something else on the floor that we all noticed and I stopped while I held up my fist and knelt down to inspect it better, seeing that it was a spray of black dry liquid that was all along the wooden floors and splattered on the wall. Once I caught a faint familiar coppery smell coming from the liquid, I immediately tensed as I stood up and pulled out my gun, which made Judy look startled as she put her paw on the taser that was holstered on her belt.

"Before you say anything, I have a concealed carry permit that allows me to have a gun outside and I bought one just in case someone tried to rob me. That doesn't matter right now because this black liquid on the floor and wall is blood and you need to call for backup, now," I whispered urgently while I kept my gun low and Judy reached for her radio.

Just as she did that, a severely foul smell finally hit me and I started gagging quietly as I covered my mouth and Nick also looked green while he and Judy covered their noses to block out the horrible stench.

"Ugh...what in the holy name of Christ is that God-awful smell? Jesus, it smells like piss and shit mixed together," Nick groaned in sheer revulsion as he retched.

While Judy contacted dispatch on her radio, I instantly aimed at a door that was down the nearby hallway when a crash echoed behind it and I knew that the disgusting smell was coming from that room since it was stronger there. As I started moving to the door with my gun trained at it, Judy stopped me with her hand held up in front of me.

"Wait here," Judy ordered quietly as she slowly headed to the door alone, much to my shock due to her ballsy move.

"Kid, don't!" I hissed in disbelief as I went after her with Nick right behind me.

Judy didn't listen to my warning and kept going down the hallway with Nick and me right behind her, the flashlight shining at the door and keeping her hand on her taser while she used one of her ears to cover her nose, which told me that the smell gets stronger the closer we are to the door. Suddenly, there was another crash from behind the door and Judy let out a tiny startled gasp as she pulled out her taser and aimed at the door with me moving beside her with my gun up.

Moments later, we were right next to the door and the smell was so powerful and horrendous that I nearly threw up but I breathed through my mouth as I heard the sounds of what appeared to be quiet growling on the other side of the door, then Judy and I nodded at each other as we took cover at both sides of the door and Judy swiftly opened it before we aimed inside.

What I saw was that the room was covered in twigs and other pieces of wood, the wood bunched up together in a way that it made me think it was a nest of some kind, then I saw three figures hunched down in the middle of the room and I was stunned when they moved their heads to look at us. I saw that the figures were a black jaguar and two polar bears, but patches of their fur were missing and they were wearing tattered clothes while covered in bloody sores with their eyes looking completely bloodshot and blood trailing down their eyes, noses, and mouths as they stared at us with looks that sent a chill down my spine.

Suddenly, all three of them instantly stood up and roared as they charged at us, and I quickly moved out of the way to prevent getting tackled to the ground as the jaguar lunged at me. Judy fired her taser at the jaguar to take him down, but he only snarled as he swiped at me with his claws that were covered in God-knows-what as the jaguar managed to knock me to the ground and pin me.

I struggled to keep him back with an arm against his neck while the jaguar, who I assume was Manchas, kept trying to bite down on my face but I was still strong enough to hold him back, despite the fact that he was shockingly very strong in a way that I was having trouble preventing him from biting me.

"Get him off me, get him the fuck off of me!" I shouted through gritted teeth just before Judy knocked him off me with a nasty kick that sent him into a wall.

I quickly grabbed my gun and stood up just as the polar bears came after Nick and me with roars, and I aimed before firing a few shots at them that only seemed to piss them off.

"What the fuck?!" I exclaimed since I had shot them in the center of mass and that they were still coming.

"Run, run!" Judy shouted frantically as she quickly fled to the front door.

I obliged by running for my life with Nick right beside me as we sprinted outside of the house and quickly shut the door behind us. As we tried to catch our breaths, loud banging rang out from behind the door and I aimed at it with a look of panic.

"That's not going to stop them for long! We need to bug out, now!" I ordered urgently and we all ran down the bridge as I heard the door breaking apart.

"What the hell is wrong with them?!" Nick shouted in terror as we kept running.

"I don't know but keep running!" Judy answered as we crossed the bridge and ran for the truck.

We all got in and I turned on the engine before the window was smashed open and I was grabbed, being yanked out and thrown to the ground while I heard the others yelling my name in a complete panic. I groaned and Manchas got on top of me as he tried to bite me again, then I managed to get my gun and shoot him once in the head before he fell on me and blood landed on my face.

I pushed him off as I heard the polar bears coming and frantically stood up, rushing over to the truck and getting in again before shifting gears and hitting the gas with my foot as the truck started speeding down the road. I saw the polar bears chasing after on all fours but I had driven us far enough away that we escaped and I started letting out heavy breaths while my eyes widened in horror at seeing my reflection in the review mirror.

I suddenly braked and the truck came to a stop as I quickly got out and backed away, making the others get out before they looked at me.

"Martin, what the hell are you doing?! We need to get help!" Nick exclaimed in disbelief as he and Judy started approaching me, but I held a hand up which forced them to stop.

"Stay the fuck back! That jaguar was in close contact with me and his blood hit my face when I shot him, so I could be exposed to whatever they're infected with!" I warned harshly with a terrified expression.

"Oh God...did any of it get into your eyes or mouth?" Nick questioned anxiously and I breathed heavily as I spotted a water bottle on the dashboard in the truck.

"I don't know, I don't fucking know but I need to wash this off and I can't do it in a river or a lake because I might contaminate it and it could spread to a water processing plant where it'll infect the city's water supply," I stated as I gestured for them to hand me the water bottle, and Nick got the water bottle out of the truck and placed it on the ground.

"They're infected with something, those people that attacked us," I declared as I picked up the bottle and used the water inside to wash my face after taking off my hat.

"Wha...how...how do you know?" Judy asked hesitantly.

"Because what they did was not normal behavior and their eyes...there was no sign of intelligence in them at all like they had reverted into nothing but complete animal instinct. Whatever the hell this thing is that's spreading everywhere, it seems to attack the brain and destroys everything that makes you who you are until you are nothing more than a feral monster with an insatiable hunger for flesh," I explained.

"What, like a zombie?" Nick questioned in confusion as I was done with washing my face.

"No, because that jaguar's heart was still beating while he was on top of me so he and the polar bears weren't zombies...but this thing seems to destroy memory, personality, and everything else that makes you as a person until you are something worse altogether," I clarified and Judy looked horrified as she covered her mouth.

"Oh, God...my siblings, some of them have the flu and one of my sisters told me that other people were sick in Bunny Burrows. Are...is this going to happen to them? Are they going to..." Judy trailed off and I held up a hand in a reassuring gesture.

"I don't know, kid, maybe I'm wrong and this whole thing is separate, maybe people getting sick has nothing to do with what had happened at Mr. Manchas house," I reassured with a nervous smile.

"But if you're right?" Judy asked and I looked pensive.

"Then we might be looking at a global catastrophe of apocalyptic proportions the world has never seen before," I stated grimly and everything went silent after that as we all waited for the police to arrive.

As we waited, I prayed that I was completely wrong and that this Wildfire flu wasn't connected to what had happened to those three people or God help us all for what happens next.

* * *

A/N Well, Martin and the others had their first contact with the infected and now they are starting to realize that something horribly wrong is going on. A guest reviewer had asked me if this was going into 28 days later territory and I just wanted to say that it was a good guess, but they're not dealing with the Rage virus and the nest inside Manchas' house with how the infected look is a pretty good indicator to what the virus is in this story.

If you all know what virus I'm talking about and guess correctly, then congratulations so I hope you all like this chapter and stay tuned.


	7. Chapter 7

Vine and Tujunga, Zootopia, Illinois, 2016.

After waiting for twenty minutes, I heard the sounds of sirens and saw four police cruisers as they pulled up to the side of the road, forcing me to shield my eyes with an arm as I saw Mike getting out of one car and a few others followed suit while a large cape buffalo in a police chief uniform approached us and crossed his arms.

"Well, this should be good," the buffalo huffed in a British accent as Mike came over to see me.

"Martin, are you okay? I heard that something bad was going on and you look like shit," Mike said as he shook my hand.

"Bad doesn't even begin to describe it, Mike...you won't believe what just happened," I stated as we separated and headed to our respective vehicles.

After we drove back to Manchas' house, we all got out and headed to where the dead jaguar was at while the buffalo, who was known as Bogo, was showing complete skepticism the entire time, but his stern expression softened a little at how shook up we looked.

"Fill us in, Hopps," Bogo ordered while we were walking and Judy told them everything while leaving out certain things.

"They came at us, all three of them trying to rip into us...they were sprinting at us and we managed to get away while Mr. Walker killed one of them in self-defense, but it...it was like they went completely savage, Sir," Judy explained and a few officers stared at her like she was nuts.

"Savage? This isn't the Stone Age, Hopps, because people don't go savage," Bogo scoffed and Judy looked at him uneasily.

"Maybe not, Sir, but I can't see any other way that this could be something else," Judy stated.

"As in?" Bogo questioned.

"Narcotics, delirium, paranoia...the way they acted towards us didn't fit in any of those fields because I tased one of them and they didn't even flinch, not once," Judy elaborated.

"How is that even possible?" Mike wondered in disbelief as we approached the area where the dead jaguar was at.

"I'm not sure because it was on a full charge and it made contact with skin and everything, but nothing worked," Judy answered.

"And you're sure that they are connected to the missing people, Hopps?" Bogo asked and Judy nodded.

"At least one of them, who is Emmitt Otterton. We ran the plates of the town car that Mr. Otterton was last seen in, where it was located at the Tundratown Limo Service and then it traced us to a Mr. Renato Manchas," Judy replied as we arrived at the entrance to the bridge.

"The jaguar," Bogo said.

"Exactly, so whatever happened to Manchas could be what happened to Otterton and whatever happened to Otterton..." Judy trailed off, looking sick and Bogo didn't force her to finish as we moved around the corner.

We all stopped at the entrance of the bridge and my eyes widened in shock since the body of Mr. Manchas was gone and there was no sign of any blood whatsoever, despite that I killed him and there should be a body.

"What the hell...he was right here!" Judy shouted in disbelief while a few officers started looking at her skeptically.

"The savage jaguar and his polar bear friends?" Bogo questioned, looking at her with any trace of sympathy gone and a deadpanned expression taking its place.

"Sir, we know what we saw! They tried to kill us and Mr. Walker was forced to shoot one of them in self-defense!" Judy tried to reason as she headed to where the body used to be.

"Or maybe any aggressive predator looks "savage" to rabbits? Let's go!" Bogo called to Mike and the other officers over his shoulder and they all went to leave.

"Sir, I'm not lying because Nick and Martin can vouch for me!" Judy pleaded, prompting Nick and me to step forward with professional smiles but Bogo didn't look impressed.

"You seriously expect me to believe this fox and his accomplice?" Bogo questioned as I shot a look of disbelief at him.

"They're key witnesses!" Judy argued while Bogo sighed irritably.

"I gave you two days to find the otter and you have failed, now hand me your badge," Bogo ordered sternly as he extended his right arm at her and opened his hand.

I was torn on how to react to this unexpected turn of events, one dark twisted side of me wanting her to suffer for what she put me and Nick through...but I remembered the incident that had happened to us 24 years ago and I just couldn't let her go through the same thing, otherwise Nick and I would be no better than the kids that traumatized us all those years ago. I looked at Nick with a frown and he nodded slightly to show that he felt the same way before we stepped forward.

"Uh, no, she won't," Nick announced and Bogo looked at us slowly with a harsh glare while Mike and the other officers were taken aback at his ballsy move.

"What did you say...fox?" Bogo growled through gritted teeth with a seething gaze but I wasn't intimidated by it.

"You heard him, she won't be handing over that badge because you gave her a clown vest, a Goddamn three-wheeled joke mobile, and two days to solve a case when none of you have done it for nearly six weeks? Christ, it's no wonder she needed help from a fox and a human...were any of you going to fucking help her, huh?" I spoke up as Nick and I stood in front of Bogo, who narrowed his eyes down at us.

"We didn't think so. You did it because not only do you think she is an everyday female who doesn't have the intelligence to even vote, you also think she's a little rabbit who can easily get killed and that's a combination of sexism and racism for no damn reason at all," Nick added and Bogo looked outraged as he went to shoot a retort at us, only I cut him off by holding up a hand.

"Here's the thing, Chief, you gave her forty-eight hours to solve this case so we have only ten hours left to find Mr. Otterton and bring his kidnappers to justice. That's exactly what we're going to do so if you'll excuse us, we have a very big lead to follow and a case to solve. Good day," I remarked as I headed back to my truck with Nick and Judy right behind me, not before Nick did a mock salute at Bogo and we arrived at my truck.

"Officer Hopps," Nick spoke politely as he opened the passenger door and let her go first before he followed suit and closed the door.

I got into the driver seat and shut the door before putting my seat belt on, starting the engine and driving us away from Manchas' house as things became silent soon after that. While I was driving, the sun started rising after a while and I shut off the headlights while putting on my shades to block the sun's rays from blinding me. I noticed Judy looking at me and Nick with an expression of guilt but I paid attention to the road so we wouldn't crash by accident.

"Thank you," Judy spoke up and I shrugged.

"Don't worry about it and never let them see that they get to you," I stated stoically.

"So...things do get to you and your brother?" Judy inquired hesitantly and Nick sighed.

"No, not anymore but we used to be small and emotionally unbalanced like you are," Nick replied.

"Smartass," Judy remarked sarcastically.

"It's true so I guess it all started when we were eight...Dad was in the tailoring business and he wanted to open up a store for everyone, called it Wilde and Sons' Suitopia. He wanted to take out a loan just to make it all happen but no bank in the city would pay us.

Dad thought it was stupid and that's when Mom came in, suggesting that Nick and I join the Junior Ranger Scouts. We thought it would be fun, going on camping trips and singing songs by the fire as we heard about in all those stories. The Counselor was reluctant at first since the Junior Ranger Scouts were prey members only, but Mom reassured him by saying that we were her little angels and we would never hurt anyone.

The guy agreed and our mother scraped up enough money to buy us two brand new uniforms...we were going to fit in," I explained quietly with a hard expression and memories of that horrible night came rushing back.

* * *

 _"Come on, Marty, we don't want to miss the initiation!" Nick called out from over his shoulder as I struggled to keep up with him._

" _Slow down, Nicky, we won't be late but could you please not run so fast!" I gasped breathlessly as we ran through the streets and made it to our destination, then we stopped and I rested my hands on my knees as I tried to catch my breath._

 _"Jeeze...I know you're excited...bro...but this initiation is making you act like a dork," I wheezed and Nick glared at me._

 _"You're a dork..." Nick grumbled and I chuckled playfully as I regained my breath._

 _"I'm just messing with you, little brother," I teased while forcing the bill of his hat down and Nick huffed while he readjusted the hat._

 _"Just because you're a day older than me doesn't mean that you'll never let me hear the end of it," Nick groaned as we headed up the steps and entered the building._

 _As we headed to the stairs, we went down into the basement where the other scouts were waiting for us and I saw a woodchuck, hippo, zebra, buck, and a colt standing in the middle of the room with welcoming smiles._

 _"Hey guys, are you ready for the initiation?" the woodchuck asked, causing Nick and me to grin at each other as we went down the steps._

 _"Yeah, pretty much born ready," I declared as we headed to the kids and high-fived a couple of them._

 _The woodchuck snapped his fingers and the room went dark, then he turned on a lamp and shone the light into our faces in a manner that caused Nick and me to squint our eyes._

 _"Okay, now raise your right paw and hand, and deliver the oath," the woodchuck instructed, prompting Nick and me to raise our right paw and hand as we got started._

 _"I, Nicholas Wilde/Martin Walker, promise to be brave, loyal, helpful, and trustworthy," Nick and I vowed together and I caught the woodchuck glancing at the other kids with a subtle smirk._

 _"Even though you two are a fox and a human?" the woodchuck questioned with a sneer, causing Nick and me to look confused._

 _"What?" I wondered just before the lamp turned off and I was sent to the floor with a nasty hit across the face._

 _I yelled in pain and two of them held me down while Nick was begging and pleading, then I was hit multiple times and I screamed for them to stop while I was crying in terror._

 _"What did we do?! Stop, please don't hurt him!" Nick pleaded as he was sent to the ground and was also held down as they started hitting him._

 _"Nick! Stop, please!" I screamed and then the woodchuck forced a muzzle onto my face while the zebra did the same thing to Nick._

 _"Did you guys think that we would ever trust a fox and a human without muzzles? You two are more retarded than you look," the woodchuck insulted just as I heard footsteps and the bull counselor showed up before turning on the lights and smirking cruelly down at us._

 _"You did well, my young scouts. Anyone should know that disgusting predators and humans are never allowed in the Junior Ranger Scouts," the adult praised and he proceeded to send a hoof down onto my right arm._

 _I shrieked in agony as a loud snap rang out in the room and I was kicked hard in the head, causing more pain as something wet ran down my temple and I weakly groaned while the kids let go. Nick helped me up and he forced me to move up the stairs and out of the building while the jeering and taunts grew fainter, then we went around to the side of the building while gasping in panic and pain and slid down against the brick wall._

 _I grasped the muzzle that was strapped to my face while Nick did the same to his, then we both grunted as we struggled to get them off in terror and finally ripped them off before throwing them away in a fury. I reached my temple and felt the wet sensation that was running down, and I moved my hand away to see a red liquid before the pain hit me and I broke out sobbing from the agony that ran through me._

 _Nick was also crying from the pain and humiliation that just happened to us and we stood up before limping back home, where Mom was waiting and her eyes widened in complete horror to see Nick and me looking badly beaten._

 _"Nicky, Marty, oh my God!" Mom screamed as she rushed over and kneeled down to check on us, just as Dad quickly came into the living room see what was going on and he looked just as horrified to see the state of us._

 _"Frankie, what happened?!" Dad exclaimed incredulously and Mom looked back at him._

 _"Johnny, call an ambulance!" Mom pleaded in a panic and Dad ran to the living room phone while Mom was rushing us to the bathroom for the first aid kit._

* * *

"Some councilor he turned out to be...fucking prick broke Martin's arm and busted his head open so bad that he had to go to the hospital to get stitches, then the bastard had the gall to show up shortly after and kick us out of the scouts by saying that we were no longer welcome.

We learned two things that day...the first thing was that we were never going to let anyone see that they got to us and the second thing was that if the world was going to see a fox as a shifty untrustworthy son of a bitch and a human that was just as guilty by association, then there was no point in trying to be anything else," Nick finished darkly as he looked out the window.

"What did you two tell your parents?" Judy asked and I looked at her like she was nuts.

"What the hell did you think we told them?! Our parents weren't just outraged, they were completely fucking livid and pressed charges for assault but the cops and the Court were on the Councilor's side.

The Judge told our parents that he didn't appreciate us lying to the Court and said that if Nick and I were to ever set foot again on a prey-only establishment while we were kids, he would have us "legally" removed from them and put in the system," I spat bitterly while clenching the steering wheel hard, my knuckles turning white as I recalled that bastard's smug look when he was declared innocent of all charges.

"When we turned twelve, our parents struggled to make ends meet due to people not trusting and paying them well, then Nick and I met Finnick while we were in middle school. We understood each other the most and saw ourselves as kindred souls due to society rejecting us, so we all decided to get back at those motherfuckers by conning them out of their own money," Nick chimed in lowly.

"So, you two became Conmen because of all that?" Judy inquired.

"Yeah...we wanted to open up a theme park called Wild Times but no loan office in the city could give us what we needed to open it up and complete it, so once we realized that it was just a crazy dream, we decided to do regular jobs like selling those pawpsicles.

It was not until I turned eighteen that I decided to enlist in the Army and use my talents elsewhere...but I saw things, things that you would never be able to unsee and I had realized that they were right when they said humans are only good for causing destruction and tragic horrors," I stated with a haunted expression while I remembered that entire week of pure hell in Dubai.

"Nick, Martin...you two are so much more than that and I'm sorry for forcing you into this case by blackmail. It wasn't fair of me to do that and I guess I was so desperate to find those missing people that I didn't think about how you two would feel about it," Judy admitted as she reached out and rested a hand on Nick's arm, causing him to look at her for a second with a soft expression before staring back out the window as I pulled onto the highway.

"I wonder how things are looking on the jam cams," Nick muttered as I made sure to take another route to avoid a traffic jam, but what he said caught my attention and the wheels in my head started turning.

"The jam cams?" Judy wondered in confusion and that's when it hit me and I perked up.

"Hold up, there are traffic cameras all over the district so whatever happened to Manchas' body and the others that were infected would've been caught on tape!" I theorized excitingly and the others smiled as they caught on to what I was saying.

"Martin, you're a damn genius! Drive us to Savanna Central because I have a friend at City Hall who'll help us," Judy instructed and I nodded as I drove us into the heart of the city.

After driving for a short while, we arrived at City Hall and pulled up to the curb until my phone beeped and I took it out to see a news video of last night's incident on the highway had been posted on youtube.

"What is it?" Nick asked and I moved the phone in front of him and Judy so they could see it.

"It's footage of last night on the highway, though the cameras kept recording even after CNN took it off the air..." I trailed off as we watched the helicopter footage and saw that there were two cars smashed against each other and that an EMT was busy working on a grizzly bear that was laying on a stretcher on the ground.

I saw the grizzly bear suddenly lunging up and sending the EMT to the ground as he ripped into the man's throat, causing a few emergency personnel to back up in alarm as four ZPD highway patrol officers rushed over and struggled to pull the bear off of the poor man.

"Guy's not dead so he's either delirious from the accident or he is on something," I muttered uneasily, recalling what happened last night at Manchas' house and how this looked very similar.

We kept watching while one of the cops managed to drag the bear off of the EMT, and I grimaced at the sight of so much blood coming out of the dying man's ravaged throat as the bear grappled with the rhino cop and the other three took out their batons and started hitting the bear in an attempt to make him let go.

"God, look how they keep beating him and he's not even flinching," Nick pointed out nervously as the rhino cop pushed the bear off of him and immediately backed up while the bear hit one cop with a swipe and she went flying into the windshield of a cruiser.

The bear threw up his head and roared as most of the cops pulled out their Glocks and kept their distance from the bear while aiming at him, then the bear got on all fours and charged at a firefighter who jumped out of the way to prevent getting trampled.

"There has to be an explanation for all of this like airborne toxins, pathogens, biowarfare, anything that could explain what is causing that kind of psychosis after getting sick," Judy chimed in as the cops opened fire on the bear and he stumbled to the ground after getting hit eight times in the center of mass but he got back up with an enraged snarl.

"Christ, he got up after getting shot eight times...it feels so unreal," I admitted as the footage showed one of the cops firing twice into the bear's face and he went down just before the cops approached slowly and fired a few times to make sure the bear was dead.

I shut off the phone and we all looked at each other uneasily, then we got out of the truck and headed to City Hall before going inside and went to look for the person Judy was talking about. As we searched, we eventually found a nicely dressed female sheep with glasses and Mayor Lionheart as they left the conference room and were heading to the Mayor's office while Lionheart was snapping at the sheep irritably.

The sheep, called Bellwether, was struggling to carry stacks of files and I felt sorry for her as we followed them to the office, where Lionheart entered the office and promptly slammed the double doors shut in a manner that caused Bellwether the smack into it and the files went everywhere on the floor. Bellwether cursed under her breath and kneel down to gather up the files as Judy went over to help.

"Assistant Mayor Bellwether, are you okay?" Judy asked in concern as she helped gather two files and Bellwether perked up.

"Officer Hopps, thank you and I'm fine," Bellwether assured and she noticed Nick and me before asking, "Oh, who are they?"

"Nick Wilde," Nick introduced as he shook her hoof.

"Martin Walker and it's nice to meet you," I pitched in with a smile.

"The pleasure is all mine," Bellwether said and I could've sworn I caught a hint of a dark undertone but I shook it off since I needed to stay focused.

"So, what brings you all to City Hall?" Bellwether inquired pleasantly.

"We like to use the traffic camera system since it may help us with the Otterton case," Judy explained and Bellwether looked thoughtful until she raised a finger.

"I know just the place so follow me," Bellwether stated after we helped her gather up the files and we followed her as she guided us down the hall.

* * *

After we followed Bellwether, she led us to an iron door that had a rectangular window with grid caging, a taped sign below that said Office of the Assistant Mayor, a sticky note saying please knock next to the sign, and many boxes on both sides with big red stamps on the labels saying Urgent.

"Um, no offense, but I was expecting something larger," I pointed out and Bellwether looked at me.

"Wait until you see the inside because it's much smaller than you think," Bellwether told me as she headed to the door.

Sure enough, when she opened the door, the interior of the office felt a lot smaller even without all of the objects in the way. As we went in, I saw that the room was dimly lit with a desk that had a computer, pens, intercom, and a mug. Three olive-green metal drawers were on the right of the desk and twenty more boxes were on the left, along with a cylinder-shaped boiler that seemed to rattle but Bellwether didn't appear to mind as we approached the desk. Finally, near the computer on the left, there was a three-foot step ladder and a cart with a small white teacup and a saucer.

"So, what was it you wanted to look for?" Bellwether inquired after sitting down in front of the desk and turning on the computer.

"The traffic camera database," Judy reminded and Bellwether nodded.

"Got it," Bellwether muttered and got to work.

There was no sound in the room after that other than the rattling of the boiler and Bellwether typing on the keyboard, though I noticed Nick about to mess with her white curly hair and promptly elbowed him in the side. Nick winced at that and shot me a look, then I shook my head and made a gesture for him to quit it just as Bellweather turned to look at Judy.

"So, which location?" Bellwether asked.

"Vine and Tujunga in the Rainforest District," I informed her and Bellwether typed in the location until the screen zoomed in to the turquoise-colored area representing the Rainforest District while moving towards the area where the address was located.

"There, traffic cameras for the whole city! This is so exciting because I never get to do anything this important," Bellwether stated with a grin.

"But you're the Assistant Mayor so why wouldn't you be doing more important things like this?" Judy wondered in confusion and Bellwether looked embarrassed as she rubbed her hooves together.

"I'm more of a glorified secretary and I think Mayor Lionheart just wanted the sheep vote, but he did give me that nice mug just so I could be appreciated," Bellwether admitted as she gestured at the white coffee mug with different colored pens in it, but on the front of it said 'World's Greatest Dad' with the Dad part crossed out and the words 'Assistant Mayor' replacing it just above.

I grimaced at that while Judy and I looked at each other uncomfortably, realizing that Bellwether had probably written it herself to prevent embarrassment and I took into account that considering Mayor Lionheart as a father-figure would only distract her from her job.

"Smellwether, I thought you were going to cancel my afternoon!" the intercom thundered suddenly with Lionheart's voice coming from it, causing me to recoil slightly as I looked at Bellwether with wide eyes.

"Smellwether?" I questioned in sheer confusion while Nick and Judy glanced at each other, then Bellwether chuckled apprehensively as she winced.

"Ugh, that's a fun little name he likes to use, though I did call him Lionass once and he did not care for that...yeah, that was not a good day for me," Bellwether explained as she went to press the reply button on the intercom.

"Sorry sir, I'll get right on that," Bellwether spoke into the intercom.

"You better and tell my damn hairdresser that I'm not getting my mane trimmed this afternoon!" Lionheart demanded harshly and Bellwether stood up out of her chair as she went to leave the office, then she turned around with her hooves clasped together and smiled at us.

"I better go so let me know what you find...hey, it was nice seeing you-" Bellwether said and was promptly interrupted when the intercom went off again.

"While we're fucking young, Smellwether!" Lionheart snapped irritably, causing Bellwether to flinch as she hurried to the door and quickly left the office while I waved goodbye.

"Huh, do you think she counts herself to sleep?" Nick wondered as we focused on the computer and I chuckled slightly.

"Now that I'd like to see but right now, we have to find the right camera in Vine and Tujunga," I reminded and Judy sat down on the chair and scrolled with the mouse to find the right camera.

Judy found the camera facing Manchas' house and clicked on it, causing footage of last night to pop up and I grimaced as the sight of us rushing out of the house and slamming the door shut was bringing back memories of what happened. I saw myself aiming at the door before the three of us fleeing across the bridge in a panic as the door was smashed to pieces and the three infected chased after us with looks of hunger and rage.

We kept watching the footage as the camera recorded us rushing to the truck and getting in until I started the engine, just as Manchas lunged at the truck and smashed the driver-side window before dragging me out of the truck and getting on top of me while I was struggling. I shivered as I witnessed myself looking terrified while I had managed to grab my gun and shoot Manchas in the face, then I pushed him off and scrambled to my feet as I bolted to the truck and got back inside.

We saw the truck speeding away as the polar bears went to chase after it and then they suddenly collapsed with tranquilizer darts hitting them just as a black unmarked transport truck pulled up to the curb a minute later, the back doors opening and three men wearing yellow hazmat suits with black military helmets, black military gas masks connected to oxygen tanks on their backs, black tactical vests, and black combat boots came out with MP5s and took up defensive positions near the body and unconscious infected while aiming at them.

"Jesus...who the hell are these guys?" Judy muttered as Nick looked at me.

"Martin, do you know who they are? They look military," Nick pointed out and I shook my head.

"No, but from what I can see, they have more information about what's going on than we do since they are certainly dressed for the worst-case scenario," I replied as I went back to watching the footage.

I noticed that the men looked lupine in nature while two others came out in white level four protective biohazard suits, one of them the size of a human and the other the size of a honey badger as they transported three large clear containers and set them down next to the bodies.

The two individuals managed to get the dead body and the two unconscious infected into the containers and they loaded them up inside the van, then they got into the van and one of the soldiers took out a spray can of some kind before spraying an unknown substance onto the pool of blood. The soldiers got into the back of the van as the blood slowly disappeared and the truck took off.

"Hmm...if these guys took Manchas and the polar bears, then maybe they took Otterton too. All we have to do is figure out where they went," Judy said as she started clicking on the other cameras to track the truck.

Judy clicked on cameras that showed the truck driving pass a three-way intersection and going into a tunnel that led to Tundratown, but the last camera showed the other side of the tunnel with the truck being nowhere in sight and I refused to believe that it disappeared into thin air.

"Where the hell did it go?" Judy wondered in confusion and Nick leaned forward as he grabbed the mouse.

"You know, if Martin and I wanted to avoid surveillance because we were doing something illegal, which we never did, we would use Maintenance Tunnel 6B," Nick pitched in as he clicked on a camera that showed the inside of the tunnel and then he showed us another camera that showed the truck leaving the maintenance tunnel.

"And there we go," I chimed in and Judy grinned at us.

"Well, look at you, junior detectives! You know, I think you two would make pretty good cops," Judy praised and I let out a stinted laugh.

"How dare you," Nick remarked humorously as he went back to following the truck on the cameras.

"Acacia Alley, Ficus Underpass, South Canyon..." I trailed off thoughtfully as the truck was going down a road out of the city.

"Huh, where does that road go to?" Judy questioned and Nick clicked on a camera, the screen revealing a black gothic-styled gate with the name Cliffside Asylum on an old engravers front. Behind that seemed to be a courtyard and a large white building where the truck went inside and stopped just directly outside the loading bay.

"Ah shit...I've heard of that place and it does not have a good history," I muttered uneasily and added, "We better get over there before they do God-knows-what to Mr. Otterton."

I turned around and headed to the door, hearing the others following right behind me as we left the office and walking to the entrance of the building while I hoped that Otterton was okay but from what we had learned so far is that things are going to get worse before they get better.

* * *

A/N I'm back, people! Sorry for keeping you all in the dark but I needed to take a break so that I could figure out where I wanted the story to go and I think I have an idea on what to do next.

Anyway, I've been looking through the reviews and one of them correctly guessed what the virus is, which is the Freaker Virus from Days Gone so congratulations for guessing right Sgt. Alcatraz.

As for the soldiers and the researchers that were seen in the traffic camera footage, it was NERO but they are an anti-biohazard division in the CDC instead of being an organization as big as FEMA since I like doing things realistically and they will have a bigger role later on in the story.

I was wondering if you all wanted the Zootopia movie time-skip to follow the Days Gone storyline or if you wanted me to do something else because I like doing things close to canon since it's something I'm familiar with and I won't get writer's block that way.

Enough of me rambling so let me know how you all like the chapter and stay tuned.


	8. Chapter 8

Cliffside Asylum, Outskirts of Zootopia, Illinois, 2016.

Like Cliffside Hospital in New Jersey, the Asylum was similar in architecture with three buildings connected next to each other; the main building with two-cylinder chimneys on the right side, a smaller wing with curved edges on opposite sides of the rooftop, and the front wing that appeared to be about nine stories high judging by the gridded windows with its swirling fixtures that looked like mind wave patterns gone out of control.

It seemingly fit or was ironic, given the exact nature of the building and its dark past filled with horrors of experimentations and dismemberment carried out by the head doctor back in the early sixties to mid-seventies until the FBI raided the building and discovered damning evidence of the doctor's attempts to try and cure all diseases and genetic deformities by literally removing them with surgical tools while most patients either died in agony or were too mentally damaged in a way that no amount of therapy could help them.

After the doctor was arrested and charged with animal rights violations along with multiple counts of first-degree murder, he was sent to a federal prison with no chance of parole and the Asylum became abandoned for decades since no one wanted to work in a place that held so much death and horror inside its walls.

There had been rumors over the years that the place was haunted by the tormented spirits of the doctor's victims and anyone who went inside never came out, but they haven't been proven and the City Council had declared the building condemned and posted a security guard at the entrance so that people would stop trying to break in. The three front doors of rectangular designs were lit by a pair of pale green lights with a one hundred and twenty foot-long bridge that spanned the right side of a sixty-foot tall waterfall. On the very end was a security booth with a red and white striped barrier that separated the facility from the main road.

When we had arrived near the large gate with the headlights off, the sky was cloudy and morose with shades of gray and dark blue providing color against the black clouds of a foreboding rain while a gentle wind blew a strong puff four seconds later that whistled against the shower of the waterfall, which made it appear that perhaps we would have a gale in a half-hour since the weather was fit for a moody day like this.

I had pulled the truck to a stop next to the ominous gate and we got out, carefully heading down the road until we arrived near the security booth and took cover against a large stone. We rose up and peered out at the booth where we could see humans and wolves in black unmarked uniforms with black tactical vests and helmets patrolling the area while they were holding M4A1 rifles with attachments on them.

Judy gave us a side glance and gestured at the security booth with her thumb, prompting me and Nick to nod as we left our cover and quietly made our way to the security booth while a white arctic wolf was on the phone and a timberwolf was watching the road with his rifle aimed at the ground. After we pressed ourselves against the booth and stayed crouched, I peered out and saw the white wolf leaving the booth before he stopped near it and Nick proceeded to signal to us that he was moving ahead before giving a thumbs up and fluidly moved around the booth to the other side on all fours while Judy was looking confused from his hand signals.

I peered out again with Judy and tensed up when the white wolf started sniffing the air and instantly aimed his rifle at the corner of the booth where Nick was hiding, then the wolf slowly moved to the corner while sniffing and holding an expression of suspicion as he got closer to the corner and Judy cupped her mouth before lifting her head and imitating a wolf's howl.

I looked at her with an expression of confusion and was about to try and keep her quiet, only I saw the white wolf halting and his head cocked while he lowered his rifle and threw his head up to respond with a howl of his own as it caught the attention of the timberwolf and he quickly walked over before smacking him in the back of the head to shut him up.

"Gary, what the fuck are you doing?! You're going to start a Goddamn howl so quit it before you get us all in trouble!" the timberwolf hissed and Gary raised his free hand in a placating gesture.

"Don't bite my damn head off, Larry, because I didn't start it!" Gary retorted quietly in a defensive tone and Judy howled again, which caught their attention.

Gary howled again and Larry followed suit until every wolf in the entire area was howling while the humans started scrambling around and trying to get the wolves to be quiet as Judy, Nick, and I used the distraction to sneak by while running across the bridge and making it to a wall on the side of the building.

"You are a clever bunny," Nick complemented with a smile as I looked around for another way in until I saw a decorated pipe above us pouring out displacement water from a twelve-inch ledge.

"Hey, it looks like the only way to get in without alerting anyone inside is through there," I informed the others quietly as I gestured up at the pipe and Judy looked disgusted.

"The sewers...great," Judy muttered.

"Don't worry, that pipe only pumps out the displacement water so it won't be that bad," I reassured before I jumped and grabbed the ledge, carefully pulling myself up and trying hard not to fall as I motioned my head at the tunnel while my feet were getting soaked.

* * *

It turned out I was right by the time I was inside with the water crashing against my legs and pounding spray drops into my face and hat as I struggled to continue my way through the large pipe leading upwards. Once we had made it to a grate, Nick had gone first by putting his fingers through the grate and twisting it to the left before opening the cover and pulling himself up with the rest of us following suit.

I looked around the dark room we were in as Judy was using her iPhone's flashlight to help us see better as I could see that we were in a room that appeared to be an abandoned ward or a storage room with old beds that were either upright, stacked upon each other, or laying on their sides as the area gave off an ominous air that made me feel a sense of dread.

"It looks like...this was a hospital," Judy muttered and I looked at her.

"Yeah...let's not stay here for too long since a combination of the stories I heard about this place when I was a kid and being in here is fucking unsettling me," I admitted uneasily and Nick looked just as uncomfortable about being in here as he nodded in agreement.

Judy aimed her light at a silver iron door and we looked at each other before Nick decided to go first after taking a huge breath and he carefully walked to the large door with me and Judy right behind him before reaching out timidly, then he instantly moved behind us and gently pushed Judy forward.

"Why don't you do it, you're the cop," Nick offered with a nervous smile and Judy shot him an unamused expression as I rolled my eyes and sighed.

"Oh, for the love of...I'll do it," I said tiredly as I reached out and cautiously opened the door slightly before peering in.

I saw that the next room was a lab of some kind with a bed in the middle with a cart next to it and a wheelchair just five feet away from it as six monitors detailed different sections of the brain with a blue fluorescent light shining dimly as it was reinforced by the sixteen overhead lights, then I noticed ten drawers along with a chemistry set and a 3D printer as Judy leaned in to get a better look and Nick pushed her ears out of the way to see as well.

"Okay, looks clear to me," Nick whispered before moving back and Judy sighed in exasperation while I opened the door fully and we entered the room.

"Huh...all this equipment looks brand new," Judy muttered as she turned on the video app and aimed around while I was examining the area until I looked down and froze while Nick saw what I was seeing and tensed up.

"Kid...you're going to want to see this," I whispered uneasily and Judy turned around to see me and Nick pointing at the floor, where large claw marks were all over in different directions next to a glass door with an electronic keypad as Judy came over to get a better look.

"My God...what the hell happened here?" Judy wondered quietly as Nick and I looked at each other with unsettled expression.

"I don't know, but I don't think we want to find out what-" I started to say as Nick turned to look at the door, only something crashed against the glass with a snarl and Nick yelped with a startled expression as he jumped back and I pulled out my gun to aim at the nude tiger as it bashed itself against the glass to break out.

"Jesus Christ!" I hissed in alarm as the tiger stopped bashing against the glass and started pacing on all fours, seeing that it was looking just as bad as Manchas and the polar bears as its body was covered in sores and blood that dripped from its eyes and nose.

"Fuck, I think I just shat myself," Nick gasped quietly with small panicked breaths and a hand on his chest as we looked away and saw a corridor with dozens of glass doors that led into rooms.

We headed down the corridor and Judy shined her light into each room as we saw humans and predators in the same condition as the tiger while they noticed us and bashed against the glass with enraged snarls as I grimaced at the state of them and wondered what the hell we were dealing with, just as I noticed one of the predators and promptly gasped in horror as I recognized who it was.

"Kathy..." I trailed off with a distraught look as I saw the nude female black wolf that used to be my wife, only she was in a bad state like all the others with patches of her beautiful fur missing and sores covering her while she growled at me with eyes that had no signs of intelligence in them.

I struggled to keep my composure as the others appeared next to me while my eyes welled up and I stifled sobs, then Kathy bashed against the glass and I flinched as anguish set in at the sight of my wife acting like a monster and it became too much as I turned away and tried to keep it together.

"Jesus...what happened to her?" Nick breathed in horror as I looked at him.

"Let's just keep searching," I said quietly as I moved away from my wife's cell and I noticed the others looking at each other with worried expressions as we kept moving.

As we kept walking down the hall, we passed two cells that had Mr. Big's men inside until we stopped at a cell that had broken glasses near the bed inside and Judy aimed her light until we saw a male otter with the same symptoms as he snarled at us.

"Emmitt Otterton..." Judy gasped as she looked relieved that we found him before she leaned down and placed her hand on the glass.

"Mr. Otterton, I'm Officer Judy Hopps with the ZPD and your wife sent me to find you. Don't worry, we're going to get you out of-" Judy reassured in an attempt to reach some part of him that wasn't too far gone and Mr. Otterton suddenly bashed against the glass with an uncontrollable growl as Nick and Judy fell onto their backs while I aimed at him.

"Shit, looks like he has no intention of returning home," Nick yelped quietly as he and Judy stood up, then Judy started counting all the infected that were locked up as I was staring at my wife's cell and trying to keep myself together since it was devastating to see her like that.

"Not counting Mr. Big's men, that makes..." Judy trailed off thoughtfully.

"Nineteen," I finished for her and she nodded.

"Chief Bogo handed out nineteen missing person cases...and they're all here," Judy told us while I started thinking hard.

"Looks like they were all kidnapped and quietly placed in quarantine to prevent a citywide panic from breaking out, but the big question is who is responsible?" I theorized and just before Judy could answer my question, the sound of someone typing on a keypad and a large silhouette on the other side of the nearby door caused me to quickly gesture at an empty cell so that we could hide.

We quickly rushed inside of the cell and laid down on our stomachs just as the door opened and two figures walked in while they were arguing and one of them was yelling with a very familiar voice that I haven't heard since on the intercom back in City Hall, then I could recognize the large figure as Mayor Lionheart as he was apparently pissed about something.

"Enough! I don't want any damn excuses, doctor, I want fucking answers!" Mayor Lionheart shouted at a badger in a lab coat, who I recognized as Dr. Madge 'Honey' Badger of the CDC.

From what I knew about Dr. Badger, she was a virologist and medical adviser of the CDC who's been involved in containing outbreaks of very nasty diseases, like the West African Ebola outbreak back in 2014, though she was described on the news as a little touched in the head due to her conspiracy theories of sheep starting the apocalypse so that they could take over after all the world's population is nearly wiped out.

The only reason why she would be here is if Mayor Lionheart owed her a favor and had her come to this city so that she could study the infected and try to figure out what was wrong with them, which explained that the infected was kidnapped and quietly quarantined to cover up the spread of the infection but the Wildfire Virus had spread too quickly for it to be covered up so the only reason that this was kept quiet was to prevent a citywide panic and those soldiers we saw must be hired mercenaries of some kind.

"Mayor Lionheart, please be patient because we're trying to discover the cause of the outbreak and contain the infection before it spreads even more than it already has," Dr. Badger reasoned tiredly while looking exhausted from hours of constant work.

"I have dozens of people here who are suffering from something that is causing them to act like rabid monsters and you're asking me to be patient? Just what the hell are they sick from and how the fuck is it spreading so fast while causing so much aggression in them?" Mayor Lionheart questioned irritably.

"We don't know, but we have classified the infected as Hooligans and we've discovered that from how the infection is spreading so fast while having a long incubation period, the virus appears to be engineered which is why it spreads so much faster than a normal pathogen," Dr. Badger explained and Mayor Lionheart widened his eyes in shock.

"Engineered? You're telling me that someone created this virus and spread it everywhere to kill as many people as possible? So, we're looking at global terrorism as the cause of this?" Mayor Lionheart inquired in disbelief.

"It's just a theory but it's looking more and more likely...Mayor, I wanted to tell you personally that someone added a human genetic component to the virus which is why our vaccines are completely useless and how it is able to adapt to our immune systems so we need to expose the truth in order for the rest of the world to prepare for what's coming," Dr. Badger stated and Mayor Lionheart's eyes widened.

"Sound's plausible, but how do you think the public is going to react that none of our vaccines will work and I'm involved with a conspiracy theorist who'll say that this whole thing is global terrorism?! I'll be ruined for God's sake and chaos will break out everywhere, which will make the situation even worse than it already is!" Mayor Lionheart exclaimed in outrage while I looked at the others and saw that Judy was recording the whole thing on her phone.

"What will Chief Bogo have to say about your recent absences?" Dr. Badger asked while backing up slightly with her clipboard raised as a shield.

"Chief Bogo doesn't know and we plan on keeping it that way!" Mayor Lionheart shouted with a scowl while I started glaring at him with barely restrained fury for putting me and my sons through grief after keeping my wife locked up in this hellhole for six weeks.

"Not if I can help it, you fucking prick," I muttered darkly as I rose up and quietly approached them until I clocked Mayor Lionheart across the back of the head hard with my gun and he dropped to the ground unconscious as Dr. Badger saw me and her eyes widened in alarm.

"Security, we have an intruder!" Dr. Badger yelped as she quickly bolted out of the room before I could grab her and the door slammed shut just as alarms broke out and the door on the empty cell started closing.

I reacted fast by moving forward and keeping the door open as Judy and Nick ran out and we quickly headed to the exit we came from earlier just as the door behind us was kicked open and I looked back to see the soldiers in yellow hazmat suits and military gear as they aimed their MP5s at us.

"Hey, stop or we will shoot!" one of the soldiers warned with his voice muffled by the gas mask, though we kept running to the doorway with the door closing just as the soldiers started shooting at us.

Nick screamed in terror as bullets flew around us and I kept my head down as we rushed past the closing door and it locked as the sounds of 9mm rounds struck the large metal door. I heard one of the soldiers shouting orders on the other side while Judy's phone rang and I looked to see her groaning in exasperation as she was turning it off and placing it in a bag before sealing it, then we all jumped into the large hole and found ourselves clamoring as we were swept down the pipe by the rushing water before I saw the exit and realized that we would be falling from a large height that could kill us.

"Son of a bitch!" I exclaimed in panic before we shot out of the pipe and screamed during our fast descent down the large fall until we crashed into the water that was far below the building and I swam up while holding my breath before hitting the surface with a gasp as Nick was behind me and I saw my hat floating in the water before grabbing it and placing it on my head while we looked around and didn't see Judy anywhere.

"Carrots, Hopps, Judy!" Nick called out desperately just as we saw Judy surfacing and she held up the bag that had her phone inside.

"We gotta tell Bogo!" Judy stated loudly and I nodded as we all swam to shore and headed to my truck.

* * *

An hour and thirty minutes later, the police had arrived at the Asylum and arrested everyone that was either in the building or outside of it and now ten police cruisers with two SWAT trucks were parked outside of the building as two police helicopters were circling the building with their searchlights on in case they missed anyone during the raid.

Judy was interviewing Dr. Badger about the virus and where the outbreak could've happened, then she told us that the CDC had narrowed down ground zero to Zootopia where the outbreak started but they were still struggling to find patient zero before she was contacted by Mayor Lionheart to help study the infected that he'd been taking off the streets quietly so that she could discover a cure to the virus.

Hearing that the outbreak happened in my hometown and that it was unleashed by someone in an airborne and waterborne strain scared the hell out of me since any one of us could be infected and the virus could merely be dormant inside of us until contact with the infected activated it, then I recalled Mr. Manchas' blood hitting my face after I shot him and felt terrified that I could already be sick and not even know about it until I saw Mayor Lionheart being escorted out in handcuffs while Judy was reading him his Miranda rights.

"Mayor Lionheart, you have the right to remain silent and anything you say-" Judy recited and was cut off.

"You don't understand, I was trying to keep this city safe!" Mayor Lionheart reasoned and I stormed up to him with an enraged expression.

"I think you were just trying to save your own ass and fuck you for putting me and my sons through grief by keeping my wife locked up in that place for six weeks without us even knowing what happened to her!" I snapped lividly and Mayor Lionheart flinched as he leaned back.

"Listen, I'm sorry about locking up your wife, but it was for everyone's safety and we still don't have a cure for the symptoms! That's why I hired Dr. Badger because I thought her expertise would-" Mayor Lionheart exclaimed as he was forced into the backseat of one of the cruisers.

"Well, you thought wrong but you still have the right to remain silent!" Judy interrupted sternly as the back door was closed and one of the officers drove away.

Nick and I looked at each other and he sent me a sympathetic expression, which told me that he understood how I felt since Kathy was a good friend to him and I didn't know how I was going to explain to my sons what happened to their mother but I couldn't keep this from them so I was going to tell them without traumatizing them for the rest of their lives.

After the area was secured by the ZPD and I had given Judy her tuk-tuk back, I drove Nick back to the city and dropped him off at his apartment before I headed home and found my sons waiting for me in the living room.

"Dad, where the hell have you been? We've been wondering where you and Uncle Nick went off to after you called us so what were you two doing?" Trevor questioned while Luke was also giving me a look that told me he also wanted answers and I sighed tiredly as I sat down on the sofa and looked at them.

"Trevor, Lucas, have a seat because I need to tell you something and you need to hear this," I stated and my sons looked at each other in confusion as they sat down on both sides of me.

"Dad, what's going on...you're kinda scaring us," Luke admitted uneasily and I took off my hat so that I could run my hand across my buzzcut hair.

"It's your mother...we found her," I told them and their eyes widened in shock at the news I had given them.

"You and Uncle Nick found her? Where is she? Is she okay?" Trevor questioned and I held up a hand to quiet him down so that I could continue.

"Kids, your mother is very sick right now and was taken to the hospital so that they could help her," I explained hesitantly and my sons looked horrified to hear that.

"Mom's sick? Is it because of that virus that's been going around?" Luke inquired with an expression of disbelief and a single nod from me told them everything they needed to know as their eyes welled up.

"God...dad, what the hell are we going to do?" Trevor asked and I wrapped my arms around their shoulders as I held them close to my sides and truly didn't know what to do.

"All we can do is have faith...and pray that the doctors will help her get better," I said quietly as we stayed close and for the first time since Dubai, I felt completely terrified that the world we know was going to fall apart and we would be forced to survive hell itself.

* * *

A/N Martin has reunited with his wife and it is far from a happy reunion and he told his sons, who are trying to comprehend that their mother is sick and it is overwhelming them but they will survive this as a family.

Anyway, things are not going to be going well since we know what'll happen at the press conference and it will seriously affect Martin to the point where his mental state won't be doing so well but he won't hurt his sons if that's what you'll be concerned about, though the city will be thrown into chaos with humans and predators being discriminated until a citywide riot breaks out a week after Judy leaves the city and I will be putting down a scene that's similar to the opening scene of Days Gone where everything has truly gone to hell.

So, let me know what you think and stay tuned.


	9. Chapter 9

The next morning, after an uneasy dinner last night, my kids and I met up with Nick before we headed to precinct one and found a media circus blocking the entrance but Judy helped us inside after she showed up and told the other officers that we were with her and now we were waiting for the press conference to happen as I thought about what's been happening this morning.

With the news of Mayor Lionheart being arrested and the missing people being found, the city council promoted Bellwether to acting mayor until Lionheart's case could be settled in a courtroom a week later and should he be incarcerated for a long period of time, then the city officials would grant Bellwether the official title of mayor and Lionheart's successor.

Right now, Chief Bogo was addressing the crowd of photographers, reporters, camerapeople, and technicians on a podium fixed with a microphone for each news channel as everyone around us were wearing face masks and respirators due to the pandemic while a large plasma TV screen presented photos of the missing people that were infected by the wildfire virus before shifting to a panoramic view of cliffside asylum.

"Nineteen people went missing for the past six weeks and all nineteen have been found by our newest officer and two volunteers who will speak with you in thirty seconds," Chief Bogo announced while I was resting my hands on my kids' shoulders and standing next to Nick as he was leaning against a wall with his hands inside his pockets and Judy looked frantic to hear that.

"Thirty seconds?! I don't think I have enough time to prepare," Judy admitted nervously and I didn't blame her since anything she said would affect everyone throughout the entire country, then Nick's sly grin turned into a kinder supporting smile as he moved away from the wall and approached her.

"Alright, if you want to look smart, then answer their question with your own question and then answer that question," Nick said helpfully and Judy looked at him.

"Like what?" Judy asked and Nick gestured to that of a microphone placed to his mouth, which would've caused feedback in real life and almost deafen him but he put on his best impression of a high ranking journalist.

"Excuse me, officer Hopps, is there anything you can tell us about the case? Well, was this a big case or a little case? Yes, it was.' Do you see what I mean?" Nick clarified and Judy looked at me and my kids, causing Luke to wave at her and she smiled at him before turning her attention back to Nick.

"I think you and Martin should be up there with me because we did this as a team and you two deserve the credit," Judy told him and I cleared my throat to get her attention.

"Nah, it's better that you go alone since we're not cops and are only assets to your case, not to mention that we're not comfortable with being on TV so there's also that. One more thing, be very careful with what you say since the media has a habit of twisting people's words and take them out of context to fit their own agenda," I warned and Judy nodded.

"You know, it would be nice to have you and your brother working here so once this whole pandemic is over, I can get you two forms and fill them in whenever you like," Judy offered kindly, causing Nick and I to be rendered silent at the proposal.

I was stunned to hear that since us exchanging our lives from conmen to police officers would be as tantamount as us redeeming ourselves for our sins, including Nick's with Mr. Big and me with the Dubai massacre as I also recalled enlisting just to not be a burden on my parents anymore.

I reflected on other areas of my life as well, remembering the trauma of the scouts' initiation and suffering from verbal and physical abuse alongside Nick while we swore to each other that it was us against the world during the time when we were ten and the guilt hit me when I realized that my brother and I became part of the problem instead of fighting to change how people viewed foxes and humans who are friends with them.

I felt ashamed for not redeeming myself after the horrors I had committed in Dubai and just proved them right in the end, but now was the chance for me to make things right for everything I had seen and done so I nodded at Judy before she reached into her pocket and took out the carrot pen with the confession on it.

"I guess you two will be wanting this," Judy said as she reached out for me or Nick to take it, causing Trevor and Luke to look at me and him in confusion as Nick took it and placed it in his pocket.

"Dad, what's she talking about?" Trevor inquired and I sighed since I knew that I had a lot to tell them but I was afraid of how they would see me once they find out that their uncle and I were criminals that profited off of stealing from other people.

"I'll tell you and your brother later, now let's watch and see what happens next," I told him as Bellwether informed Judy that it was time for the interview, causing her to send us one last nod before she headed to the podium and started answering questions from reporters.

While Judy was busy being interviewed and telling everyone about how the virus was a biological weapon that had been unleashed onto the world, I scanned the area for any signs of anyone that no one would suspect for being responsible for the outbreak and I knew that Lionheart wasn't responsible since I could recall hearing the desperation in his voice while demanding answers from Dr. Badger last night and no guilty person would ever sound like that if they were responsible for this pandemic, though he is guilty of kidnapping and holding people in cells while trying to cover up what's going on so that's something I wouldn't forgive him for.

Pretty soon, my eyes laid on Bellwether and I could see that her face seemed to have an icy scowl when Judy talked about how the virus was a bio-weapon and the sheep was clenching her fists while keeping her feet firm to the floor, then she appeared to compose herself and I narrowed my eyes in suspicion since it looked like she wasn't expecting Judy to reveal the true origins of the virus and it got me to wonder if she was involved in all of this somehow, judging by her reaction.

I could see that she was trying hard not to be pissed but when Judy answered a question by saying that she didn't know who was responsible, Bellwether's started smiling and I caught what appeared to be a twisted unhinged look in her eyes and it made me feel on edge because something about that sheep was starting to make me feel uneasy and I knew that she was worth looking into but first, I had to make sure my kids stayed safe until a cure was found and then I would investigate Bellwether for any involvement in the outbreak.

Once Judy was done answering questions confidently, Bellwether walked up to her and ended the interview before leaving the building with her personal security team and I approached Judy with Nick and my kids as we had concerned expressions on our faces.

"So, did I do okay?" Judy inquired hesitantly and I sent her a reassuring smile while Nick looked a little disappointed and nodded.

"You did fine, but you didn't have a chance to mention me or Martin and how we solved this case together," Nick pointed out with a frown and I looked at him.

"This case still isn't solved yet, Nick, because the terrorist or terrorists responsible for this are still out there somewhere and we need to figure out who it is, but this pandemic needs to be contained first before a cure can be found and then we'll look into who's responsible for this," I stated logically since it was too dangerous right now to investigate who is responsible and we needed to focus on avoiding any contact with any infected before a cure was found.

The others nodded in agreement and we said our goodbyes to Judy before she went to talk to Chief Bogo and the rest of us left the building with the reporters and technicians before getting into the truck and driving away from precinct one, then I dropped off Nick at his apartment and I drove home with my kids until we arrived and headed inside until sitting down at the sofa.

"Dad, what was that carrot pen and why did she want to give it to you and uncle Nick?" Luke asked curiously and I sighed as I leaned forward and rested my elbows on my knees as I rubbed my face with both hands.

"Kids...there's something I have to tell you and please don't interrupt," I said tiredly, causing Trevor and Luke to look at each other in confusion as I got started.

I told them everything about how Nick and I were conmen that stole from people using legal means to do so, then they were rendered silent as I kept explaining and I avoided eye contact with them once I was done and braced for the anger and hatred.

"Dad, why would you and uncle Nick do that? Why the hell would you guys steal from people who worked hard for their money and lie about it to us and mom?" Trevor questioned hurtfully as I could see the betrayal and anger on their faces out of the corner of my eye.

"B-Because your uncle and I had it very rough growing up and I guess that we lost faith in people because of it and bless your grandparents for struggling to give us a good life, even if people spat on them just because they were foxes...listen to me, I'm not proud of stealing from people and I wish I could go back and change it, but I can't because there is a lot of sins I've committed in my life and I guess the reason why I didn't tell you two and your mother is that I was afraid that I would lose you guys.

I...I went through a lot a few years ago and it affected me badly but I never stopped loving you guys and your mother, even if I was distant at the time and the therapy's been helping so I just want you to know that I'll never stop loving you two and your mother, no matter what you may think of me now," I confessed and just rested my hands on my head as I felt so tired of living in a world filled with so much hate and suffering, but I still kept going because of my family and friends that supported me and I've never regretted it all these years.

Suddenly, I felt a hand being placed on my shoulder and looked to see Trevor and Luke staring at me sympathetically and they didn't need to say anything to understand that I had been through a lot in my life and I was struggling because of it, then I pulled them into a hug and was grateful to have something to keep me going in this world, even if it tried to beat me down and I let go of my kids before I grabbed the remote and turned on the news so that we could watch the results of the press conference.

As we watched the news, my eyes widened in shock when I saw that the reporter was talking about how Judy supposedly said that the attacks and killings from the infected were the results of humans and predators going savage because of biology and I couldn't believe what I was hearing since this was not what Judy said and what was worse is that Bellwether had informed people to keep their distance from humans and predators until measures would be taken to put us in quarantine as my kids started trembling with scared looks.

"Dad, why are they saying that? Officer Hopps didn't say anything like that so why the hell is the news saying that?" Luke questioned with a frightened expression, causing me to hold him and Trevor close to me as I was rightfully pissed that the news was lying about the origins of the virus and that they were telling the public that this was nothing more than humans and predators reverting back to their stone-age ancestors, which was not how biology works.

"I don't know...I just don't know," I admitted as I felt scared for my kids and how we and any other predator or human were going to be targeted by hateful mobs, then I kept Trevor and Luke close while just knowing that this was going to turn into a real shitstorm quickly.

* * *

It had been a few weeks since the news lied about what was really going on and things had gotten worse with the virus being reported in many different continents all over the world while protests were breaking out all over the city and I had learned that Judy had resigned from the ZPD before leaving the city to go look after her family, which didn't surprise me since she must've been disgusted at the cover-up that just happened and was scared for her family.

Pretty soon, the CDC's paramilitary division NERO had been sent into hotspots around the country to help contain the infection but reports of casualties told me that they were having a hell of a time trying to keep order with the police as the news talked about governors activating the national guard and mobilizing them, though the worst part was that predators and humans were being openly attacked and beaten in public by prey supremacist groups around the country with predator and human police officers being let go or suspended until further notice which made the situation even worst because resources would be stretched thin and it added fuel to the fire.

As for the infected, attacks and killings were getting more and more frequent with police and NERO shootings escalating and now I was getting emergency supplies at a grocery store with my kids and Nick as we grabbed anything we might need before leaving the city with only the essentials and headed to a cabin in the wilderness that our grandparents used in the summer until things weren't so hectic and we could come back.

"Is this everything we need?" Nick asked while I made a mental list of the amount of canned and packaged food with several jugs of fresh water that was in the shopping cart before I nodded as I could see other people doing the same thing we were doing, only they were in a panic and moving quickly while I could see a few fighting over a few things.

"Yeah, and I have a lot of emergency rations locked up just in case so we should be good for a few months," I stated and we headed to the checkout area while I could hear arguing among a few people, then we arrived at a register and the horse manning it started narrowing his eyes when he saw us.

Nick and I took out the food and water and the cashier scanned them while glaring at us with open hostility until he was done putting them in bags and packaging up the jugs before typing in the price and I paid him, thankful that I had plenty of funds from my days with Nick as conmen and we took the supplies before carting them out of the store where Finn was parked next to my truck.

"Hey, did you guys get what you needed?" Finn inquired and I nodded as I opened the back doors of his van and we started loading up the supplies in the back.

"Yeah, now we just need to head to my apartment and grab the rations with other essentials until we leave the city," I answered before closing the back doors and pushing the cart to a storage area while I could see many cars honking and trying to pass each other in the parking lot while it was overwhelmingly packed, then I put the cart away and rushed back to the others until we got into our vehicles and managed to drive out of the parking lot.

While we drove through the city, I was tense at how chaotic things were getting everywhere just before I could see a traffic jam up ahead with people leaving their cars and walking to something as they gathered into a crowd, causing us to get out of the truck and see what was going on as I could see one ambulance that was parked as an EMT was treating a prey cop who had a nasty bite on his arm and we moved through the crowd until we stopped at a crime scene with a few cops keeping people back as two were jotting down notes while standing over a body that was covered by a tarp.

"Yo, this is fucking wrong man! Wrong, wrong, wrong!" a dark-skinned man shouted while gesturing at the body and one of the cops held up his hands to deter him.

"Sir, step back and get on with your business," the zebra officer ordered and a lion scoffed.

"This is his business and all our business because that guy was unarmed, sick, and needed help, not gunned down in the street like there was no hope for him! The ZPD is out of control and it's bad enough that we humans and predators are treated like criminals, but we're getting killed and suffering from police brutality?! This is bullshit!" the lion yelled in outrage with a Hispanic accent and the crowd clamored in agreement.

"You're going to need to clear this area now," the officer repeated sternly and I knew that this was going to get really ugly soon, so we didn't want to be in the middle of this.

"Nah, we're not clearing nothing!" the dark-skinned man refused and I motioned my head for the others to go and I looked back, only it didn't look like we were leaving any time soon as a human kid aimed a video camera at the crime scene.

"This is a crime scene," the officer warned.

"Yeah, and we're behind the tape so you can't legally remove us unless we're doing anything wrong," the lion retorted condescendingly and the officer glared at him.

"I'm only going to ask you people one last time, leave now and return to your business," the officer said and the lion huffed.

"Screw that, we aren't leaving and we're not doing anything wrong!" the lion shouted as the crowd started getting agitated and the officer pointed at the kid with the camera.

"Hey, kid, put the camera down," the officer ordered and the dark-skinned man shook his head as the kid looked uncertain.

"Nah, keep that camera up and show the whole world the truth about these thugs because I'm going to give jackboot over here a little civics lesson," the dark-skinned man stated and the officer shot a sharp glare at the kid.

"Do you want to go to jail, son?" the officer questioned and that just made things worse.

"Jail? For what? Freedom of speech and rights for lawful assembly?!" the dark-skinned man exclaimed in disbelief.

"Hey, he's not breaking any laws or threatening anybody!" the lion yelled angrily and the officer reached for his mike and contacted dispatch before the lion laughed and added, "Oh, right, call more of your fascist friends!"

After that, the crowd started shouting and throwing insults before it ended with them chanting repeatedly 'hell no, we won't go' and I tried to push my way through the crowd with Nick and the others right behind me, but there were too many people and the crowd was getting bigger until I could see the ZPD's TUSK anti-riot division coming around the corner behind everyone and that's when my kids looked scared at the sight of riot cops appearing with batons, body armor, and ballistic shields.

"Dad?!" Luke cried in alarm and I moved him and Trevor close to me as they started whimpering.

"It's okay, I'm right here so stay close to me and uncle Nick!" I instructed over the yelling and managed to push through the angry crowd until I could see CDC doctors in hazmat suits heading over to the body just as a female ZPD officer spotted a human stumbling into view with the same symptoms as the other infected.

The officer pulled out her gun and ordered the infected to stop and get down on the ground a couple of times before the infected screamed in rage and outright sprinted at the cop until she was shot twice by the officer and fell to the ground dead with people screaming in horror and all hell broke loose after that.

"You murderer!" someone shouted in rage and the crowd swarmed the officers at the crime scene, forcing them to back up and take out their batons to start hitting people or used pepper spray to force the crowd back, then some of the crowd separated to create more chaos by smashing store windows and damaging cars while also setting them on fire with the protests turning into a full-blown riot.

We were running as the riot cops fired tear gas and threw flashbangs at the crowd as a group of people pushed a car over onto its side and I was gasping in small panicked breaths while the riot cops charged at the crowd and either shoved them down or beat them into submission with batons before I could hear something over the yelling and sounds of things breaking, then the noise got louder until I could see a dark cloud in the sky growing larger and bigger until my eyes widened in horror at the sight of the massive swarm of crows with blood on them as they swooped down upon us like a tidal wave.

The crows attacked everyone in sight as rioters and cops alike screamed in terror and agony at being pecked non-stop while the officers started shooting at everything in a blind panic before swarms of infected came out of nowhere and turned the area into a massacre with people either getting killed or infected themselves, causing my kids to scream as we ran for our lives and arrived back to our vehicles and got in them.

(Play Philadephia from World War Z)

Suddenly, something exploded in the distance as people ran away from the carnage and I saw a motorcycle cop pull up to yell at me to remain in my truck before he was struck by a garbage truck and sent flying, causing me, Nick, and my kids to gasp at the horrible sight while the truck smashed cars out of the way and ran over people before I slammed my foot on the gas and the truck skidded forward before moving down the cleared path with Finn right behind us in his van.

I swerved out of the way of incoming cars speeding by and crashing into each other as people were tackled to the ground by infected and torn apart, then the garbage truck smashed into a box truck and toppled onto its side while I drove past it and saw crowds of people and police officers running away from the infected with SWAT teams as I swerved out of the way of an ambulance before I could see an airplane dropping out of the sky and crashing into the Sahara District nearby with it going up in flames and my kids screamed in terror.

"Oh god, this isn't happening!" Nick exclaimed in denial as I hit a few people and drifted into another street that led to my neighborhood, then I managed to make it to my apartment and skidded to a stop until I got out with the others and rushed inside before entering my apartment and kneeling down in front of my kids with a panicked expression.

"Trevor, Lucas, I want you two to only pack the essentials and leave behind anything you don't need, okay?" I instructed and they nodded fearfully as I hugged them and stood up, rushing into the kitchen and getting the box of emergency rations until we ran out of the apartment with only the things we needed as the sun set and it became dark.

Suddenly, just as Finn met up with us to help, there was an explosion next to us and I was thrown back across the sidewalk as I shouted in pain and everything was muffled with my ears ringing, then I struggled to get to my feet and saw a nearby car on fire as I stumbled over to where the others were and called out for them while people were running and screaming.

"Trevor, Luke, Nick, Finn!" I shouted desperately as I looked around for them and saw Trevor coughing as he fanned the smoke away and he looked at me.

"Dad, we're okay but Finn's leg is messed up and uncle Nick's arm is broken...oh my god, you're bleeding!" Trevor exclaimed in horror and I felt something wet on my temple and reached up to touch it until I pulled away and looked to see that it was blood.

"Nevermind me, let me see how Finn's doing!" I stated as I rushed over and could see Finn groaning in agony while his right leg had a nasty deep gash and Nick wasn't looking better with his arm appearing broken as Luke had a few scrapes and bruises on him.

I kneeled down to help Finn up but he brushed my hands away and forced himself up, causing him to let out a shout of pain before limping over to his van and looking through the back to take out a sawed-off shotgun as he racked the pump.

"Ugh, never leave home without it," Finn groaned while I could see that we needed to leave the city right now before we're torn apart by infected.

"We need to go right now," I stated urgently as Nick had gotten a clean cloth from my truck and wrapped it around Finn's leg.

"Shit, I should've listened to you about things going bad when all of this was kicking off a few weeks ago, and I didn't believe you or didn't want to believe that it was happening," Nick admitted with a terrified expression, breaking his vow of never letting people see that they got to him but that didn't matter anymore since it had all gone to hell fast.

"None of us knew that it was going to escalate like this, not this fast and no one is going to lose anyone as long as we stay together so call our parents and tell them to meet up with us out of the city," I told him as the sounds of gunfire, emergency vehicles, explosions, and screaming echoed everywhere as we started to head to our cars until Trevor looked at something.

"Dad, there's a pup over here so hold up for a second!" Trevor notified me as I could see him heading over to a kid with a hoodie that was covering her head, but the twitching and quiet snarls caused terror to flood my system at the knowledge that my son had no idea of the danger.

"Trevor, get away from her!" I alerted urgently and he looked back, just before the infected lunged at him and the knife she was holding stabbed into Trevor's abdomen deeply while he howled in pure agony before I instantly pulled out my gun and fired one shot into the air to scare away the infected and she ran away as my eyes widened in horror and I rushed over to check on Trevor before putting my gun away.

"Shit...I can't believe she fucking stabbed me," Trevor groaned in pain while I was feeling frantic.

"Oh my god, hang in there, son...oh Jesus," I babbled in terror as I checked the injury and knew that he needed immediate medical attention or he would die from either blood loss or a bad infection.

"Martin, I heard on the radio that there are evac helicopters approaching the city and one arriving on the roof of a warehouse not that far from here so let's get Trevor over there quick," Nick informed me and I helped Trevor into the truck before Nick and I got in with Finn limping to his van and we sped through the streets while chaos was erupting all around us.

Once we arrived at our destination, Nick helped Trevor out of the truck and he almost collapsed before Nick was forced to set him down onto the ground against a wall, then Trevor hissed and groaned in pain while Finn limped away to check the situation and I could see a Molotov being thrown at a billboard that showed the city's motto 'where everyone can become anything' as someone was speaking on a PA system.

"Attention, get to the nearest rooftop and stay there because help will come! This is the Federal Emergency Management Agency and we are requesting anyone who is not infected to head to the nearest rooftop and remain there for evacuation!

I repeat, all evacuees get off the streets and remain indoors until further notice!" the man instructed as I was feeling Trevor's forehead and discovered that he was starting to get a fever from infection and I swore under my breath as Finn limped back to us.

"How's he doing?" Finn asked and I let out a shaky breath as I pointed to the injury.

"Um, he's burning up so the knife must've knicked one of his kidneys because he's turning septic," I answered while I was feeling completely helpless and didn't know what to do as Finn kneeled down with a wince and looked at Trevor.

"How are you doing, kid?" Finn inquired and Trevor grimaced while he was gripping his injury.

"It was so stupid, there was this little...this little kid, this damn little kid," Trevor gasped as I stood up and started pacing while I rested my hands in the back of my hands.

"With a big goddamn knife," Finn remarked as I walked back over to the others.

"Alright, help me get him up," I told Nick, who nodded before we both grabbed Trevor's arms and lifted him onto his feet carefully as he groaned in pain.

"Ah, shit," Trevor wheezed and I heard snarling from many infected before we all looked and saw an entire mob of them stumbling down the street to our location.

"Another mob, we really don't want to be here when they come through," Nick pointed out and I nodded as I let go of Trevor and pointed up at the roof.

"Listen carefully, we need to get to the roof and flag down that chopper so come on," I instructed and we headed into the warehouse before barricading the door, then Nick and Luke helped Trevor to a bunch of barrels and placed him down against them.

"God, that little girl just reminded me of Lisa, you know? We used to play that hide-and-seek game all the time when we were little during your time overseas, and she would just...she used to hide...hide her head in her coat, just like that dad," Trevor slurred as I felt his head and tears started welling up while I stood up and started pacing again with Finn joining me.

"Martin, I have seen people cut up before in my day but nothing like that," Finn told me as Nick approached us and I let out a shaky breath as I looked at them.

"He has a fever and needs a doctor right now," I stated as we heard snarling and growling before many infected ran past the windows and it all felt so unreal.

"Jesus, just look how many there are," Nick muttered and I headed over to Trevor while Luke was kneeling right next to him.

"We have to move, now," I said urgently before squatting down in front of Luke while he was struggling not to cry and I placed my hands on his shoulders.

"Lucas, I want you to listen to me very carefully...I know things are terrifying right now but I need you to be strong for your brother, okay?" I told him and Luke stifled a sob as he looked at me with tears running down his cheeks.

"Dad, I'm so scared right now, and why the hell is this happening?" Luke wondered and I pulled him into a hug as I gently shushed him to calm him down.

"I don't know, but we need to stay calm right now so help me get your brother up," I assured as I let him go, then we helped him up with Nick coming over and I pulled out my gun before Finn and I led the way during our walk to the roof until we entered a large room before gunfire erupted and we were forced to take cover as bullets struck the crate we were hiding against.

"Just get out, you bastards! You killed her, you killed her!" someone screamed nearby and we all looked at each other with expressions of alarm.

"Shit, who the fuck is shooting at us?!" Nick gasped as he and Luke lowered Trevor against the crate while the unknown shooter kept firing and screaming like a crazed lunatic.

"Martin, what do we do?" Finn asked and I let out a noise of uncertainty before an idea hit me.

"Alright, you keep him busy while I flank around and get behind this guy," I instructed and Finn nodded as I moved away from the crate and quietly headed to where the shooter was, then I went into an office and saw the shooter screaming at the others while Finn and Nick were distracting him before I took cover against a desk.

"Fuck you!" the crazed survivor shouted distressfully as I slowly put my gun away and stood up with my hands raised to show that I wasn't a threat.

"Sir? Listen to me, just take it easy and put the gun down," I announced calmly, causing the shooter to spin around and aim his gun at me before I could see that he was a gazelle in a torn business suit that was covered in blood while he held a deranged expression on his face.

"Whoa, I'm unarmed so please put the gun down because you're shooting at my kids and one of them is badly hurt so we need to get to the roof!" I reassured frantically but the gazelle didn't appear to be listening.

"Get out, you fucking human!" the gazelle shouted while his hands were trembling and it caused the gun to shake.

"Sir, please, my son needs help so let us get to the roof where a chopper is waiting-" I tried to reason and was cut off.

"Shut up, you killed my wife!" the gazelle screamed and that's when I saw the dead body of a female gazelle that looked like she had been shot multiple times while the body was soaked in her own blood.

"Oh god...listen to me, I have a wife to and I can't imagine what you're going through right now, but I didn't know about this so please lower the gun," I pleaded in horror and the gazelle started sobbing.

"Go to hell, you humans are nothing but a plague that deserve to be wiped out!" the gazelle yelled in grief before he was distracted by the infected pounding on the nearby large metal shutter, then I took the chance and charged the crazed survivor before grabbing his gun and we started struggling.

"Dammit, give me the fucking gun and calm down!" I grunted loudly while we were fighting but he wasn't letting go and I pulled out my gun with one hand before aiming up at his head.

"Shut up, shut up!" the gazelle screamed as his eyes were crazed and I knew that he was too far gone to be saved but I didn't want to shoot him since I can understand what he's going through.

"Please, don't make me do this!" I begged desperately as I was being forced to the ground, then the crazed survivor screamed as he forced me to the ground and I shot him in the face with blood hitting me in the face before he fell back and hit the ground dead while I was shuttering and breathing heavily until I dropped his gun and stood up with a look of distress.

"Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck, oh Jesus," I whimpered as I started clutching my head and paced around while I was crying, then I managed to regain my composure and headed back to the others.

"Martin, what the hell happened in there? What's wrong?" Nick questioned in concern as he could see how pale and shaken up I was and I avoided eye contact with him and the others.

"It doesn't matter right now, so let's go," I evaded as I headed over to Trevor and helped him up before we headed to the staircase and went up to the roof where a military black hawk was waiting and I could see a CDC doctor dressed in a white protective suit.

"Hey, we need help and he's been injured!" I called out to him as I helped Trevor to the black hawk and the man, who was human, looked at us with hesitation.

"W-What's wrong with him?" the doctor questioned and I could see that he was just a kid who wasn't even out of college yet.

"Well, he's not...bitten or anything like that, he's been stabbed and needs immediate medical attention," I explained frantically as the doctor looked clearly out of his element.

"I can't take anyone else," the doctor stated hesitantly and I saw his medical id pinned to his suit with the name Richard Daniels on it.

"Okay, Daniels? If we don't get him to a hospital, he's going to die so fucking help us," I begged and Daniels flinched.

"There are no more hospitals," Daniels stated before I accidentally let go of Trevor and he collapsed to his hands and knees until I kneeled down to check on him.

"Come on, no more hospitals?! Don't you people have doctors, a triage, a MASH unit?!" I exclaimed in frustration before Daniels started looking nervous.

"Uh, look, I'm just a grad student who's not even out of college yet and they drafted me so I'm not supposed to be out here-" Daniels reasoned until I had enough and stood up before pulling out my gun and aiming at him, causing Daniels to raise his hands with a panicked expression.

"Listen to me, my kids mean everything to me and I would die for them, now get my son some fucking help or I will shoot you and hijack that helicopter myself!" I threatened desperately with my eyes wild and looking slightly unhinged as Daniels looked at the others and back at me with a scared expression.

"Alright, I've only got room for two of you, okay? Two," Daniels said nervously and I narrowed my eyes in rage.

"What hell do you mean that you only got room for two of us?!" I shouted in outrage.

"We're overweight, okay?! I can only take two of you!" Daniels argued and I could see that there were a few people in the chopper and considered forcing them out with my gun, but there wasn't time for that and I needed to get Trevor on that helicopter so I holstered my gun and rushed over to Trevor.

"Okay, help me with him," I said, and Daniels joined me as we helped Trevor into the helicopter and I went over to Finn, Luke, and Nick.

"Okay, guys, we need to get on that-" I started to say but I was cut off.

"Martin, I heard what he said and there's only room for two in that chopper so go with him and we'll keep Luke safe. Look, I've been through worse shit than this before, yeah?" Finn pointed out and I heard the helicopter starting up before I decided to make a choice that might be stupid.

"Yeah, we have," I muttered before I took Luke's arm and brought him to the helicopter until I helped him in and looked at Daniels.

"Where are you guys going?" I questioned loudly and Daniels turned his attention to me as he got into the helicopter.

"A refugee camp east of the great Michigan lake," Daniels told me while my kids were horrified by what I was doing.

"Dad, what the hell are you doing?!" Trevor exclaimed in shock and I rested a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, Finn and your uncle Nick will never make it without me while they are injured so I'll keep them safe," I stated before I reached for my military id tags and took them off until I placed them around Luke's neck.

"Listen to me, if you or your brother ever feel scared and don't know what to do, grab those tags and think about me whenever you two need to calm down...hey, I want those back when we find each other," I instructed softly as I grabbed Luke's hand and he sniffled while his eyes are welling up.

"Hey, we need to go!" Daniels reminded me and I pulled my kids into a hug as we silently cried and I let them go before backing up and mouthing 'I'll find you' as the helicopter lifted up into the air and Finn shouted at me while it took off into the distance and the others stood behind me.

"Oh god, what did you just do?" Nick questioned in disbelief and I looked back at him and Finn with a terrified expression as the city started burning around us with screams, gunshots, and explosions raging on around us.

* * *

After that, we headed back down onto the street and got into our cars before driving through the city as the radio talked about the president declaring a national emergency with the national guard being sent out all over the country and the FAA grounding all flights as many other countries around the world were going to hell with the same thing happening everywhere as we approached a hospital that had smoke coming out of the windows and I could see an abandoned ambulance that had crashed into a lampost while police officers and NERO soldiers had set up a blockade to prevent anyone from entering or exiting the hospital.

"Jesus, the fuck is going on over there?" Nick wondered as I could see NERO and SWAT teams taking up positions behind parked cruisers and military humvees while uniformed officers were guiding cars with flares and we started passing the hospital as a few officers were ordering a bear infected to get back inside as I could see him wearing a hospital gown.

Suddenly, the bear roared before charging at the soldiers and SWAT officers and they were forced to open fire with MP5s and M4A1 rifles as we ducked instinctively to avoid any stray rounds while more infected came pouring out of the hospital.

"Holy shit, get down!" I ordered urgently, causing Nick to keep his head down while the police and NERO were quickly dispatching the infected and people screamed at the carnage breaking out and the shooting stopped as I looked at Nick.

"Are you okay?" I questioned and Nick nodded while looking scared out of his mind.

"Yeah...god, this is fucking crazy," Nick gasped as we kept driving away from the hospital and the radio talked about a curfew that was put into place as the CDC was scrambling to develop a vaccine and congress was considering martial law to try and contain the virus that had now spread to all fifty states in the United States.

"Hey, did you call our parents?" I asked and Nick nodded.

"Yeah, I called them and they said that they were going to meet up with us at the refugee camp," Nick told me and I let out a breath of relief as we kept driving until we pulled onto a highway and headed out of the city before Nick looked out of the window and his eyes widened in shock.

(Play LA Goes Dark by Paul Haslinger)

"My god...look, the city," Nick breathed out in horror.

I looked at what he was talking about and saw that several buildings were in flames with the faint sounds of gunfire, screams, emergency vehicles, and explosions raging on with the city looking like a warzone while police and military helicopters hovered over it and aimed their searchlights down, then I could see the lights in the buildings flickering until every single building started shutting off and before I knew it, the entire city lost power before I came to the realization that the world we knew was gone and now it had become hell on earth as Nick looked at me.

"Martin, what the fuck are we going to do?" Nick inquired and I just stared at him before returning my attention to the highway, having no idea what to say to him and for the first time since Dubai...I was genuinely scared out of my mind and didn't know what would happen next as we drove away from the city and headed to where the refugee camp was while I prayed that my kids and our parents were safe.

* * *

A/N Hey, I'm back and things have certainly escalated but before you ask why it happened so fast, the virus in Days Gone spread across the entire planet in an entire week before it all went to hell but I wanted to do things slow to build up the chaos that would no doubt happen before it all went off like a powder keg, though I want to confess that I was slightly uncomfortable putting down the riot scene because of the current events that are happening in real life and I want to emphasize that I do not condone that type of behavior since it will make things worse.

Anyway, the chaos was a combination of the opening from Days Gone, Fear the Walking Dead, and the Philadelphia scene from the movie World War Z to really show that no one was prepared for it and that it hit everybody so quickly before any kind of response from the government and the military happened, but I'm not going to show the military fighting against the Freakers or attempt to contain the situation so the next chapter will take place four to five months later from what I understand of the time skip in the movie Zootopia, though I could be wrong about how long the time skip is so let me know if I did get it wrong.

So, let me know what you think about this chapter and stay tuned.


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